The Skeptics
What is faith? Skeptics believe they know. They experienced religious faith and then discovered it
doesn’t work for them. Religious faith left them feeling unhappy, used, and
certain never to be made a fool of again. Fully persuaded that religious faith
is only for weaklings and idiots, we will not find religious faith operating in
their world. Skeptics will swear that religious faith has nothing to do with
their decision-making or risk-taking. They believe that their actions
determined the results. And there’s nothing wrong with what they believe
because that is their faith.
Spirit-filled
Christians
For Spirit-filled Christians, faith is an experience that
has proven itself. When they heard the message of salvation in Jesus Christ,
the word of faith brought them a
born-again experience. When they were baptized with fire, they experienced the
reality of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. One such gift is called the gift of faith. The gift of faith brings
the certainty of fullness where there is lack, the certainty of overcoming
where there are obstacles, the certainty that God will perform what he has
promised, etc. All spiritual gifts remain with the receiver for life because
God’s gifts and callings are irrevocable.
Fruit-bearing
Christians
There is a point, however, when another experience begins to
beckon the Spirit-filled Christian, called bringing forth fruit. The fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22, 23 NIV). It is at this crossroads
where Spirit-filled Christians are reluctant to let go of the “moving of the
Holy Spirit” in order to bring forth the “fruit of the Spirit”. They perceive
the “moving” with its power as more desirable than the “fruiting” with its
godly characteristics—which they mistakenly equate with weakness. Yet, the
fruiting is more important to Jesus, especially in the “last days” when lots of
power will be displayed, and the fruiting, especially love, has all but disappeared
(Matt. 24:11, 12, 24). He will look for fruit in the power-wielding Christian,
and finding none, he will reject them (Matt. 7:16-20, 22, 23).
Full-bloomed, the fruit of the Spirit marks us differently
from the world. Our character has been fashioned after the character of Jesus,
the Son of God. As such—whether in season or out of season, whether in need or
in plenty—the full-fruited Christian will not fail to represent the One in
whose image we are made.
The nine fruit of the Spirit is the end-product—and our testimony—of
the condition of the tree upon which fruit is found. Fruit guides our behavior.
The fruit of faith, like all fruits,
grow through trials and testing, stays the course, overcomes adversities, and
prevails. Thus, while people everywhere are shaken by wars or rumors of wars,
pestilence, famines, or earthquakes, etc., why not align with a full-fruited
Christian, whose spiritual fruit consists of the assurance of peace, and the
fruit of faith?
Scripture quotations from the King James Version (KJV) of the bible unless otherwise noted.
