How To Apply The Fruit Of The Spirit Series

True use of the Fruit of the Spirit will always bring about spiritual growth and will NEVER focus on the person doing the correction, the focus will always be on the Holy Spirit. This is the test we see given in verse 4. It shows us how to see if a person is acting by the Spirit or by human effort. Another way of saying what Paul tells us in verse 4 would be, if I think of myself as better than the person I am correcting – then I am not doing the action by the Spirit. Action by the Holy Spirit will always point to God and not to the self.

In verse 2 and in verse 5 we have a seeming contradiction. In verse 2 we are told to carry each others burdens and in verse 5 we are told to carry our own load. So do we carry each other’s burdens, or do we carry our own? We do both.

In the Greek, which Paul wrote in, two different words are used here, so the apparent contradiction is only in the English text. The first word used for burdens means something that is heavy. We would apply this to something like the grieving of a loved one, the disappointment in losing a job, or helping someone in the time of financial need. This is something that we can help another bear – again we do this not by human effort, but by using the developing Fruit of the Spirit.

The second word used for burdens means to carry a commercial load, and it is also used to describe a pregnant woman carrying a child. It describes a situation where the burden cannot be shared like a pregnant woman must carry her child on her own. What this describes is what we will be personally accountable to God for on the day of judgment. My attitudes, my dealing with sin, my spiritual growth…very personal things only I can deal with, really he is describing the state of my spirit before God.

I want to point out that in verse 9 Paul tells us to not become weary about doing good. Now wait a second, haven’t I been saying that we are not to have a goal of being good people in life, we are to have the goal of being faithful people – doesn’t this contradict that principle? Well , no. Let me give you the full picture of how this all works.

Taken that we are not to be good people but faithful people, then are we to do good? Yes. Good people do good things. Faithful people do good things. However, the origin of the good and the effect of the good is very different in faithful people as opposed to good people.

The origin of good in good people is one of human effort and its results are temporal, they will not last. The origin of good in faithful people is the Holy Spirit and the results of good originating in the Holy Spirit are eternal.

Here is how we are to live this in a very practical sense: Instead of focusing on doing good things in my life, I focus on my relationship with Jesus Christ, I stay in contact with Him as much as possible and by that action the Fruit of the Spirit is developed in my life over time. (Remember the Fruit of the Spirit is of supernatural origin, and not my human abilities). Then when situations come up, I am able to handle them well, because the patience is not my own, the kindness is not my own, the faithfulness is not my own – it is of the Holy Spirit.