Amy Boucher Pye

Tag: fruit of the Spirit

  • Devotional of the week: Spot the fruit (14 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    …Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:1–17)

    We come to the end of our exploration of the fruit of the Spirit, as we reach one of my favorite passages from Paul’s letters. Lately I’ve been considering it from various angles through James Bryan Smith’s fine Hidden in Christ. He shows how this chunk of Scripture is foundational for our life in Christ as he examines it through single words: chosen, forgive, walk, beloved, clothes, thankful…

    We see in this passage another list of vices and virtues, similar to what we explored in Galatians. Paul employs this device of using the contrasting lists, which was common to ancient Greece, but he roots it in the believer’s life in Christ. That is, transformation comes through Christ living in us. We are changed as we put on these clothes of Christ – compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, and crowned again by the greatest, love.

    And again we see Paul’s theme of the old self and the new. As we die to our old nature, whether riddled with anger, selfishness, sexual sin or other, we embrace the new. We practice the spiritual disciplines – living as new creations means we embrace change and are always growing and learning and becoming more like Jesus.

    We’re all at different points in our journey of discipleship. A friend of mine said that recently she was nearly hit by a car, and she was more surprised that she didn’t utter a long list of swear words in response than not actually being hit. That’s change. Another friend suffers from ME and although bedridden, emits the fragrance of Christ through her intermittent online communications.

    You too can play, “Spot the fruit.” Today and this week, train yourself to notice the fruit you see exhibited in those you meet, online or in person. If appropriate, encourage them. After all, we’re all in this together.

    Prayer: Lord Jesus, as you inhabit me, help me to bear fruit. I want to be more gracious and kind; compassionate and loving. Let me live from the new self. Amen.

  • Devotional of the week: Christ’s supremacy (13 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    Photo: vanessa lollipop, flickr

    …bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks… (Colossians 1:9–14)

    Paul probably penned the letter to the church at Colossae from prison in Rome, although scholars don’t agree on this point. He didn’t actually plant the church in Colossae – the convert Epaphras did. Paul wrote the letter to these unknown Christians, however, after Epaphras travelled to Rome to be with Paul to seek advice about the Colossians falling prey to false teaching.

    Paul seeks to refute the heresy by holding up the supremacy of Christ; in Colossians 1:15–20 he includes what may be an early Christian hymn (“The Son is the image of the invisible God…”). He and Epaphras pray earnestly for the church, that they would hold fast to the gospel. He says that as they receive from God, they will be able to live in a way that pleases him, noting four ways in particular: bearing fruit in every good work; growing in knowledge; being strengthened for endurance and patience; giving joyful thanks.

    These four marks of godly living reflect God’s radical renewal in our lives – he’s the one who makes us to bear fruit, to grow in understanding, to have the ability to endure, and even to give thanks. We can’t magically generate these qualities, but they emerge within us through the work of the Holy Spirit. As we die to our old self, we put on the qualities of the new.

    During our time of thinking about the fruit of the Spirit, have you stopped to consider an actual piece of fruit? After all, some perfectly ripe fruit – organically grown – bursts with flavor and goodness. Not only does it bring us energy and nutrients, it also brings us pleasure. Think about how your good works, birthing succulent fruit, bring joy to your Creator.

    Prayer: Lord Jesus, may I always be connected to you – the vine – that I may bear fruit that lasts. Amen.

  • Devotional of the week: Think on these (12 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:1–9)

    As Paul reaches the end of his letter, this series of standalone statements feels like he’s trying to remember everything he wants to share with them: you two women, stop fighting (perhaps their disagreement was part of the bigger issue of disunity); rejoice in the Lord; be anxious about nothing; wrap yourselves in peace; think on what is good and lovely and excellent; put my teaching into practice.

    The sense of fruit in this passage comes in verse 17, when Paul says he yearns for more of the spiritual benefits to be credited to their account. As they fulfill the staccato-like statements that he lists in quick succession, they will bear fruit.

    Bearing fruit takes the training of our minds, hearts and bodies. Sometimes we need to flee the pack-like mentality, even if it feels difficult. Once I was faced with this when my book club chose to read 50 Shades of Grey (I had left early; in their defense, they said it was a joke). Although I didn’t want to appear narrow minded, I said I wanted to heed the injunction, “whatever is good, lovely, pure and so on, think on these things,” and so would pass on that book. I didn’t want my imagination filled with the book’s degrading sexual acts and attitudes, even if that meant appearing strict to my friends.

    The verses above are good ones to set to memory, which we can then call to mind in times of quiet or anxiety. I find when I’m unable to sleep, especially if my mind is racing all over the place, I recite some passages of Scripture. It’s a way of setting God’s truth into our hearts and minds.

    What pure and noble things can you think on today?

    Prayer: Lord, you are good, pure, true, noble, right, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. We worship you. Amen.

  • Devotional of the week: Love in action (11 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    …this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:1–11)

    The apostle Paul probably wrote the letter to the Philippians either from prison in Rome or Ephesus. He’s sharing his love and appreciation for their partnership in the gospel, but he’s also, as with his letter to the Galatians, warning them against false teachers (the Judaizers we spoke of last week). He packs a lot into his opening paragraphs, signaling what he wants to communicate.

    Read through verses 9 to 11 again, Paul’s prayer of intercession. He’s concerned about the unity of the church, and the love he speaks of here probably refers to the love between fellow believers. This love, imbued with the wisdom that comes from God, sets them apart and makes them holy – filled with the fruit of righteousness bestowed by God through his Son.

    A couple of years ago I was asked to speak on the topic of restoring confidence in the church. At first I struggled with the subject. Although I knew that although the church is God’s bride and chosen vessel for bringing about his kingdom, I also had heard many stories of brokenness, disunity, and pain related to the church. And yet when I asked for stories of the church being a light and a help on social media, I heard of so much redemption. People experiencing health difficulties or relational breakdowns, and the church stepping in with help and love. The same comment was repeated, “I don’t know how I would have survived without my church.”

    Those acts of love in action are Christians bearing the fruit of righteousness. Whether it’s driving someone to a hospital appointment or taking the time to sit and cry with them in their bereavement, we’ll never know the true impact of these acts of mercy.

    How might you bear fruit today?

    Prayer: Lord God, spark in me the love for members of my church. Forgive me when I’ve held a grudge and become bitter; help me to let go. Amen.

  • Devotional of the week: Walk in the light (10 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    Photo: Angie Trenz, flickr

    For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. (Ephesians 5:1–14)

    One night when I was walking home after some meetings in Central London, I felt a strong nudge not to take the shortcut down the darkened side road. Not knowing if that feeling was from God or a passing fear flitting into my consciousness, I decided to go the long route anyway. I can’t tell you whether I was saved from a horrible act in the darkness, for I got home safely, locked the door, and breathed a sigh of relief. While passing that side street, however, I glimpsed a group of unfamiliar young men some ways down.

    The dark can be scary because bad things can happen to us there; darkness in the Bible is used as a symbol of the unholy trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Here Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus, urging them to live in the light. His letter isn’t motivated by the need to correct a specific heresy or sin, but rather to spark their imaginations into the ways of God’s kingdom of grace and truth.

    Again the recurring theme of the old self and the new comes through. Once we lived in darkness; now we live in the life of God. Does Paul say we live in the light? No, he actually says we are light in the Lord. Now that’s a mind-blowing concept. We’ve left our old life behind – the one shrouded in darkness and sin – and now we reflect Jesus’ transforming light.

    One of my friends was mired in the occult until one day two Christians shared the good news with her. She wrote a big “SAVED” in her diary, saying that afterwards people commented on the light that shone through her eyes. May it be so with us.

    For reflection: Jesus: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

  • Devotional of the week: Law and spirit (9 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:1–6)

    In this passage, Paul continues to describe the new life we should be enjoying in Christ, following from last week’s reading. Just as previously we were bound to sin, so too were we tied to the law. He’s specifically speaking about the law of Moses; the laws written in stone. When we become joined to Christ, we no longer are under the law but are indwelled by the Spirit. Now we’re released from the law to bear fruit for God.

    This brings freedom, and with freedom can come the fear that we will get things wrong. For some, this fear can paralyze. But when we rely on God’s Spirit within us, we know that he leads us – perhaps beginning with baby steps. This concept reminds me of the saying, “Pray and then do the next thing.” Yes, we’re fallen people who make mistakes. But we are also redeemed believers in whom Jesus dwells.

    Bearing fruit for God occurs when we heed that little nudge inside. You know the one? That thought that pops into our head that we should call a friend, or go visit her when the text she sends sounds desperate. That deep breath we take when we feel ourselves losing control, about to unleash a slew of angry, hateful words. That hymn of praise that bubbles out of us, unbidden.

    I love the character of Sarah Smith from Golders Green in CS Lewis’ The Great Divorce. On earth, Sarah was a humble woman, much overlooked. But in heaven she is one of the Great Ones, whose deep love of people and animals brings transformation. She bore fruit daily, though it wasn’t recognized or lauded. But the One who sees all things saw, and knew.

    May we too be Great Ones, recognized on earth or not.

    Prayer: Father God, help me to discern your nudges of grace, that I might live in obedience and joy while collaborating with you. Amen.

  • Devotional of the week: Holiness (8 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    Photo: Paul Writing His Epistles by Valentin de Boulogne – Blaffer Foundation Collection, Houston, TX, Public Domain

    But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:1–23)

    I wonder what it was like for Paul on his missionary journeys. He must have felt the pain of separation with the huge gulfs of geography between the new churches springing up; he was unable to visit them all and he certainly didn’t have the immediate updates we enjoy from friends and family across the world with our video chats and social-media updates. But Paul knew the secret weapon for true change in his new charges – Christ dwelling in them.

    Paul strongly urges the church at Rome to live out of the new self; that which is inhabited by the Holy Spirit. He longs, as he says in verse 1, that they would not harbor the secret desire to sin because they hold to God’s assurances of forgiveness (St Augustine’s, “Lord, grant me chastity, but not yet”). Nor should they be slaves to sin – ruled by what they crave. But rather he desires that they would offer themselves – their souls and our bodies – to God as instruments of grace. Living lives transformed.

    Paul uses the word for fruit in verse 22 (above). When we die to sin and don the clothes of Christ, we reap the fruit of holiness, which leads to eternal life. Holiness, our robes washed pure and clean. Holiness, desiring God’s will and living in his ways. Holiness, ushering in the life of the kingdom of God.

    We all have our own domains that we can either submit to the Lord or keep tightly within our grasp. When we relinquish our rights, whether in the big questions such as where we’ll live, or in the smaller but daily issues such as will we bless or will we curse, we bear the fruit that the Lord grows in us. May this life be seen in us today.

    For reflection: “Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee; take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise” (Frances Ridley Havergal).

  • Devotional of the week: Life by the Spirit (7 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    Photo: Tyler Neyens, Fruit of the Spirit Fire Tree, Creative Commons

    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–26)

    In contrast to the false teachers who wanted to place the Galatians under rules and regulations, Paul wants them to live in step with the Spirit. As they depend on the indwelling Spirit, he produces lasting fruit.

    Continuing in the list of the fruit of the Spirit (from last week), God is faithful, and helps us by setting this virtue within us. When we keep on loving those whom we find difficult; when we pray earnestly for the persecuted church; when we give abundantly from our stores of time, talent and money, we are faithful. When I think of faithfulness, a few women in their seventies and eighties come to mind. They no longer can engage in travel and ministry as they once did, but they pray daily not only for their locality but for international situations. I imagine that God, when they get to heaven, will lovingly reveal what their prayers have wrought.

    Paul in this list probably means gentleness to be more the self-emptying love between people than the sense of a teachable spirit. When the Lord was in the first stages of removing my heart of stone (along the lines of Ezekiel 36:26), I felt a jolt of joy when someone described me as gentle – not a word I used for myself!

    Self-control is another virtue that seems out of fashion these days, but Paul was probably emphasizing it by placing it last on the list. Although these fruit come from the Spirit’s work in us, we too have a role to exercise. As we depend on the Lord, looking to him when we seek to curb our appetites, he will give us the strength to desist from speaking that painful word or overindulging in a self-soothing behavior such as sex, shopping or eating.

    May Jesus living within us bring forth these fruit.

    Prayer: Lord Jesus, may we abide in you to produce that lasts. Fruit that the world would see and know we are your children. Amen.

  • Devotional of the week: Bearing fruit (6 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    By Leo Boucher. All rights reserved.

    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22–26

    We’re looking at the fruit of the Spirit again this week (and next). Again, remember that these all spring forth from love.

    When Paul wrote, joy was also a proper name, as it is today. This is our daughter’s middle name, and when she was little she would delight when it was spoken in her presence: “Joy! That’s my middle name!” But joy isn’t just a happy feeling; it’s a deep sense of well-being even when the circumstances aren’t pleasant.

    Peace is also known by the Hebrew word, shalom. This peace isn’t just an absence of conflict, but a sense of completeness; of wholeness within relationships. God’s gift of the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) comes from above, for instance when we feel strife with another or anxiety from within.

    Forbearance is a word we don’t seem to prize in our often frenetic lives. But patience and steadfastness come to us when we rely on God, especially in times of trial. I think of several friends with whom I’ve prayed through tough and testing times. The forbearance they exhibit takes my breath away. We wouldn’t wish for these excruciating circumstances – a painful divorce; an injured child – but God redeems them in ways we can’t imagine.

    Some people are just more naturally kind than others; I think they are wired that way. For many of us (I count myself in this category), we need God to take us outside of our self-absorbed bubbles and give us the kindness to show to others. My husband can vouch for this area of my life…

    Goodness is similar to kindness; in the New Testament, it only appears in Paul’s letters. It’s a state of being made righteous by God, which defines our actions.

    What strikes you from this list of the fruit of the Spirit?

    Prayer: Lord, I yearn for joy, peace, patience and kindness. Form them in my heart and actions. Amen.

  • Devotional of the week: Fruit that lasts (5 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    Photo: Scripture Printable Fruit of the Spirit by Finleyjaesdesigns.

    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22–26

    We’ve made it! After a few weeks in the series, we’re here at the nine-fold list that you may have thought I would only focus on (if so, sorry to disappoint). Last week we saw the list of vices that result from living by the flesh; this week we learn of the fruit that grows when we live by the Spirit.

    Commentators have tried to group the fruit various ways, but probably the best way is to put them all underneath the first fruit that appears – love. Love is the fruit by which the rest flow. When we love, we invite the other fruit to blossom in our minds and hearts.

    As you think about the fruit of the Spirit, remember that fruit is something that grows at the command of another – the gardener or God. We may plant the seed, but for fruit to result, we need good soil, rain, sunshine, and protection against birds, disease, and high winds. We may not realize the fruit that God births in our lives, but those around us may spot it. They may see how we clean up after the coffee time at church, week after week, without complaint or thanks. How we reach out to the older gentleman who has trouble walking unaided. How we don’t blow up when yet again our lovely children delay their bedtime.

    When I shared the stage with Jennifer Rees Larcombe at a BRF/Woman Alive women’s event a couple of years ago, what struck me was the love she emanated, not only when she was speaking to the many women gathered, but especially when she prayed throughout the day for individuals. She may have been mending from a broken pelvis, but she wasn’t going to be sidelined in the work of God. She was in step with the Spirit.

    May you bear fruit for God – fruit that lasts.

    Prayer: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love… where there is despair, hope; where there is sadness, joy. Amen. (After St Francis)