Maintaining when the bottom falls out.

Most people do not change— their surroundings do. For instance, when they receive gratification from a relationship change… then they do too. This just tells us that as long as their character is tied to their surroundings, their character is fragile at best. When the circumstances change in that particular environment or relationship, all bets are off. Most people are slaves to their environment.  As disciples, we don’t know when the winds of change will come and beat our spiritual life down. This is why we are creatures of habit.  It enables a false sense of security. If we stick to our protected habits, we have no need to change and therefore no need for the bottom to fall out.  The problem is, God is a God of constant change.  He is always at work changing our environments and the circumstances of them to draw us closer to Himself.

How does He normally challenge your faith?  Maybe another way to ask this is: When are you most ready to completely lose your patience? 

• Is it with people?
• Is it with change in general?
• Is it in a particular environment?

Again, most people do not change— their surroundings do. The peace and joy of most believers is a result of their peaceful circumstances. There is no self control, no power over their spirit. Their spirituality is circumstantial.  Self control demonstrated by an employee who doesn’t like his boss may be the fruit of wise company politics.  But on the day his boss jumps down his throat, or the day he is threatened with the loss of his job entirely, there are no more perks for being kind. In any particular environment, we may see a different side to our otherwise congenial life. Fruit of the Spirit demonstrates it’s divine source when circumstances and relationships take a turn for the worse.  It is not in the good times we seek God, rather it is in the worst of times. We are fragile, our works are fragile, our spirits are fragile. Conversely, fruit (a life) produced by the Spirit is not fragile.  It is not subject to change or environment.  It is rooted deeply and embedded in the person of Christ.  When we abide in Him and allow Him to live His life through us, the result is character that endures the chaos of life. 

I feel we falsely identify the actions of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.  The following segmented list is borrowed and adapted from a source I cannot recall, but illustrates just how Spirit-Fruit should be actionable, not just internal:

The Fruit of the Spirit is:

• love — for those who do not love us in return
• joy — in the midst of painful circumstances
• peace — when something you were counting on doesn’t come through
• patience — when things aren’t going fast enough for you
• kindness — toward those who treat you unkindly
• goodness — toward those who have been intentionally insensitive to you
• faithfulness — when friends have proved unfaithful
• gentleness — toward those who have handled you roughly
• self-control — in the midst of intense temptation

The opposite is:

• hateful
• depressive
• stressed
• impatient
• rude
• insensitive
• backstabbing
• rough
• controlled by passions

You see from the above lists that the Fruit should be actionable rather than just merely character qualities. The Character bleeds out into action, just as the Spirit oozes His nutrients through us to others therefore “bearing fruit”.  When circumstances gauge your spiritual output, something is wrong! Jesus’ goal is to reproduce Himself in you. His brand of peace, self-control, courage, love…everything!  He does this through the Holy Spirit. He gives you the power to overcome the circumstances and find a supernatural power to conquer the present natural forces against you.   

Example text for this is John 14.27— “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  His peace is available to you and me. His peace does not disappear when the roof caves in, instead shows more strongly.  Just as light permeates darkness, His brand of peace withstands people, pressure and personalities.  It is in the dark the light shines brightest.  In the same way He endured, we too have an example and supernatural agent producing supernatural peace.    This is reasonable and logical. He is God, therefore supernatural and undeterred, so His Spirit in us produces an undeterred supernatural peace, love, joy, etc. This is the brand of peace He gives us.   

How is that working out for you? His peace finds its source in the unchanging nature of God.  The spirit-filled life is not passive or characterized by defeat.  It is victorious!  It is actionable!