We know that the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness & Self Control.
We also know that as Christians, the Fruit of the Spirit has to be outwardly manifested in us so that Christ can be glorified in us.
Therefore we try our best to manifest, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness & self control in our lives and we end up getting frustrated. The more we try the more we mess up and we fail miserably.
Some of us might succeed in manifesting some of the fruits in our lives but again we end up wondering why people are not attracted to Christ through us.
Then again we notice people of other faiths manifesting love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness & self control in their lives and we wonder, what is the difference between us and them and how Christianity differs from other religions!
Now if you have a strawberry and I have a strawberry it doesn't matter which strawberry is accepted by the seeker because both are strawberries and they are the same. That is the same principle explained by the people of the world today. "There are many paths to the One God," they claim.
But this morning during my personal devotion, God showed me a brightly shining sparkling, golden fruit and told me that when the Fruit of the Spirit is manifested in me, it would sparkle and shine like gold and Christ will be glorified in me. For that to happen I must stop trying and let God take over completely.
That made sense to me. That is how we will be different from someone of a different faith. That is how souls with be attracted to Christ instead of us. When you have a strawberry and I have a sparkling golden strawberry, it would make more sense for the seeker to accept the golden strawberry, for with it he can become rich.This is how more and more seekers will be attracted to the golden strawberries which we hold.
Christ taught us by example to forgive countless number of times. He taught us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. He taught us to show the other cheek when someone slaps us. He taught us to go the extra mile while helping others.
Only when we truly accept Christ as our Saviour and let Him be the Lord and Master of our lives, can the Fruit of the Spirit be manifested in us and Christ can be glorified through us. Only when we surrender completely to the Will of the Father as Christ did and only when we crucify our ego on the cross and only when we ask the Father to burn all that is not of Christ within us, can we glorify Christ in our thoughts, speech and behaviour.
We must stop trying and let God take over completely. Christ will then be glorified in all His splendour and Glory before all men. That is when we believers will be able to win souls for God's Kingdom.
(Below, I humbly tried to replicate the fruit God showed me, but I know I did not do any justice to what He showed me because the fruit in my vision was so bright and shining and so golden, like a million cut mirrors and diamonds embedded on the fruit and it was pouring out God's glory in it's fullest essence.)
~Mary Augustine~
