Part of the race for me has been discovering the Father’s heart. Not just knowing who He is, but truly seeking, discovering and even studying His heart for humanity – as best as humanly possible.
I remember having this revelation in the Dominican Republic, month 1. “Jordan, you’re really not that great of a person.” I didn’t even attempt to live like Jesus. I wanted to, but it was hard.. how could I possible be like Jesus? He is the Perfect One. Faultless and without sin. Completely blameless. Fully pure.
That’s when I began the painful process of striving. I strived to be loving and kind. Gentle and full of self-control. I tried to “live like Jesus” because I am a Christian, and that is what I’m supposed to do, right? I truly gave a lot of effort.. but ended up quitting, feeling tired and exhausted.
It’s the moment I got over myself, surrendered, and began spending intimate, intentional time with the Lord that I began to change. It was AFTER I switched my immature mentality from “what can I gain from this” to “I just want to be content and sit in the presence of the Lord” when the switch flipped. I began having radical encounters with Jesus and the Holy Spirit and it was in those encounters that I began displaying the fruits of the spirit. It was never me.. it was entirely God Himself. It was never something I was able to obtain on my own. Striving didn’t work. But, when I began nurturing my relationship with God, He then outpoured through me, through the Holy Spirit. The fruit of that encounter was… the fruits of the spirit.
This is why: in that intimate moment with Jesus, we experience holiness. We experience righteousness and purity.
When we were born again and made alive in Christ, the Holy Spirit now has a home. It manifests itself in us and our entire being now LONGS to be God in flesh. We want to be Jesus. So it’s only natural that we want the fruits of the spirit, because it makes us like the Father. The only problem is that we sometimes forget where that source comes from. We forget that we can never be like Jesus through our own efforts, but we can only be like Jesus through Jesus Himself. Through experiencing His love and His heart and His divine power and perfect nature.
Here is the SUPER COOL thing: this fruit that we receive from the spirit through radical encounters with the trinity is a GIFT. It’s a gift to us and a gift back to the Father. When we are patient or kind.. loving and gentle.. good, faithful, and filled with joy, peace and self-control.. we are experiencing the Father’s heart. We are intimately experiencing His character and His heart for humanity, because all of those things are who He is. Which is exactly what we crave.. it’s what we have longed for from the very beginning.
So, it’s nothing of us. It’s not from our own state of being or pursuit. It is simply the art of God being glorified through us, which is our gift back to Him. When we actively display the fruits of the spirit, we are displaying Christ Himself. That is our gift back to the Father, who longs for us to repent, to give our hearts to Him, and become transformed, renewed, and refined into the likeness of Him. He rejoices in that.
The fruits of the spirit do not come to us overnight. As God peals back layers of our heart and strips away our old sinful nature, Christ begins to show.
When we fight for those encounters with Jesus and we experience holiness (as best as our brains can recognize, although we can never fully comprehend His holiness), it is only natural for us to now reflect that through the fruits. We cannot experience Jesus and walk away the same. If you are the same, and your life has not been flipped upside down, consider reevaluating yourself. Because the God we serve changes everything…
This is such a beautiful and life-long process that takes daily commitment. And I don’t know about you.. but that’s the only kind of life I am ever willing to live.
