Fruity Reflections

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17).

I just went through a season when God kind of put me in rest mode, which to me meant "time out." I had a little trouble going along with it. I thought, "Ok, God, you brought me to Texas to do ministry. Here is a list of all of my skills: teaching the Word, administration, organization, leadership...it goes on and on. So, when are we going to use these? When?...Um....hello....Jesus.....?"

I had to rest, which is not an easy thing for a task-oriented person. Now, "in the fullness of time," so to speak, He's had me lead worship and prayer, and is opening more doors for those things.

Say what? That wasn't on my list. I thought I was cut out to lead small groups, plant churches, and serve the homeless. I am, but it seems that God has some ideas about where my life is going that are beyond my imagination. It seems that there are more gifts inside me than I thought.

We all have natural abilities--some of us may be good at sports, some may be naturally patient or gentle, some may be great at music, and some may be able to cook food that makes you drool. If you are a human being who is currently alive, you have gifts. Unbelievers have amazing gifts and are able to use them to achieve great and wonderful things, simply because God loves us and showers humankind with goodness.

But read the next verse in James: Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of the truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures (1:18).

If you're a believer in Christ, this pertains to you. You don't create the fruit. You are the fruit.

I think a lot of times we like to take inventory of our own talents (ever taken a "strengths and weaknesses" quiz?) and then create a 5-step plan of how we are going to use our gifts. We even do this in the church. We start to classify ourselves according to our "strengths" and "weaknesses," attempting to find identity in how we are different from other people as well as "what we can achieve for God's kingdom" through our own efforts.

This is a dangerous mindset, because (as innocuous, even benevolent, as it seems), it gives place to the sneaky lie that what Jesus did on the cross was not enough. It encourages us to view ourselves as useful to God rather than loved by God.

Yes, we do have natural gifts, and we humans can "use" them to do pretty darn amazing things. Just check out all the non-Christian nonprofits of the world, all the humanitarian organizations, all the peacemaking officials. However, while we can all "use" our natural gifts, they are really able to work when we allow the Spirit to work through us in them. If we do, we don't just sow temporary, earthly seed--which can still be good; but, in the Spirit, we sow eternal seed, which bears fruit that never dies. It can't grow old, be corrupted, or be forgotten. It lasts forever. And we don't just construct or create fruit; we generate it, and then we become fruit, because the Creator of All Things is doing everything.

Read Galatians if you don't believe me. It lists "the fruit of the Spirit" in chapter 5. Note that it doesn't say, "the fruit of your spirit." It says "the fruit of the Spirit." This is not a 5-step plan for you to increase your fruit. It's a one-step plan: love God because you believe what He says about you. The beautiful flower you become out of that relationship can't help but bear His fruit.

Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you" (John 15:16). What a redemptive thing: what Adam and Eve destroyed through ingestion of a temporary fruit, God restored to eternal fruitfulness through His own firstfruits, His only Son. What they chose to destroy, He chose to restore.

I don't want to get into Armenianism vs. predestination or any type of fruitless (no pun intended) discussion. I just want to point out the fact that, if you believe in Him, Jesus chose you first when He gave up His life for you long before you were born. Like branches on a tree, we don't really choose to bear fruit. If life is in us--"the way, the truth, and the life"--we just naturally do.

I was asked by a small child yesterday: "When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?"

Of course, I wanted to be a mother, but besides that dream, I wanted to be an author. From about third grade and through college, I wanted to write novels. One way that I am most like my Father is in my unbounded imagination and strong desire to create, especially stories.

I used to think that I would like to live in a hermit hole and write novel after novel, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe I will write a novel one day; maybe I won't.  All I know is that now my own life is more exciting than any story I could dream up myself. That's because the author is the Creator of All Things, the creator of creativity. His imagination is wild.

And I'd much rather take part in His story than live in the Shire of my own reclusive artistic identity and fear of reality (to use a literary reference). So, right now, He has me blogging--telling His story, which is, as I said, way more exciting than anything I could come up with.

I'm not saying that if you want to write novels, you're an artistic snob. If that's your dream, go for it! It may one day be my dream again as well. All I'm saying is that, right now, I want all of my gifts to be committed fully to His purposes, because what He has in mind for them is bigger than what I can think of (no matter how imaginative I am). It is more important for me to listen to what He has planned for my talents rather than recognizing them and then charging on ahead myself, trying to "use" them to bring Him glory in my own plans.

Can I tell you something? Jesus is pretty glorious. He is seated at the right hand of God. He doesn't really need our help to bring Him glory. All He really needs is for us to surrender all of ourselves to Him, and then He can bring Himself glory through the fruit that we become by His Spirit.

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me (Colossians 1:28-29).

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

I think He's got this taken care of.

You're a beautiful work of God, and He is a potter who sings while He works. You should appreciate His workmanship and relax under a steady, glorious hand.