Sent from the Father

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative--that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26  NLT).

Campground in Texas 2012

When Jesus was about to leave His disciples, He reassured them by telling them that the Father would send a helper in His place, who “will teach you everything and remind you of everything I have told you.”  That’s quite a lot.  Not only will the Holy Spirit help Jesus’ followers remember everything Jesus said, He will also teach them everything.  That makes it pretty clear that we should be eager to have the Holy Spirit active in our lives.  In Ephesians 1:13, Paul lets us know that we were given the Holy Spirit when we believed Christ for salvation: “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promise of the Holy Spirit.” (NIV)  Along with the Holy Spirit, we received fruit, that is, the Fruit of the Spirit.

   It’s a very interesting fruit, one that contains nine parts, very different yet related parts.  Because they are different, we are tempted to call them the “fruits” of the Spirit, but they all came in the same package.  We didn’t get one, then another one, and later on a different one.  No, we got all of them at once.  When we received Jesus Christ as Savior, we were given the Holy Spirit, and along with Him came these attributes all in one package.   And since it’s fruit, we can expect it to grow as we learn how to express it in our lives.  A new Christian may not have the patience of one who has lived as a follower of Jesus Christ for many years.  But as we grow in the wisdom and faith of Christ these aspects of the fruit become more apparent in our lives.  At least they are supposed to grow.  

   Whether they grow or not, or how much they grow, depends on how faithful we are to reading the Word of God, speaking to the Lord in prayer, and fellowshipping with fellow Christians.  So what is this fruit that is supposed to be present in all of us?  Paul is very specific about it in Galatians 5:22,23:   “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against these things.” (NLT)  It’s pretty exciting to me to know that I was given all of that when I accepted Jesus.  Sometime I don’t feel like I have all of the fruit, but I was given it all, and it is all mine.  God does not give something and then take it back.  He expects us to increase in the use of it as a mark of who we are and whose we are.  

   When I think of all of this as one fruit, I get confused.  I have trouble imagining a fruit that looks like and has all the attributes of a banana, apple, peach, pear, apricot, plum, cherry, orange, and grape all at the same time.  But I have forgotten; this is a fruit designed and created by the creator of the universe.  When I remember that, I can accept the fruit of the Spirit as the most amazing fruit ever—a fruit that I have been given by my Lord and one that He expects me to grow throughout my life as proof that I am truly His.