20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator– who is forever praised. Amen. (Romans 1:20-25 NIV)
As part of our discussion of this passage in our small group we explored trades that we have made. I hope we were all being honest as the married among us all concluded that the best trade we had ever made was getting married and giving up singleness. The bad trades we were willing to share almost all revolved around stuff.
As I was thinking about this question about bad trades, I realized that my worst trades involved various forms of selfishness rather than pursuing the fruit of the Spirit. This got me thinking. Here’s what I came up with.
Love is the first fruit. This love is selfless and unconditional. It is an act of the will that is determined to do what is best for another regardless of what it costs the giver. The all-too-common trade in today’s world is to trade love for lust. Lust pursues pleasure with a passion without any thought of how much it costs others. It is possible to trade lust for love, but not easy. Fortunately, a long look at the cross and complete surrender to the Holy Spirit will make the trade possible.
Joy is the second fruit. Joy and happiness are related. They are both good feelings. Comparing the two is like comparing a puddle after a good rain with the ocean. The puddles in life come and go, but true joy is powerful and never-ending. For a long time, I did not understand why anyone would not want joy. Then I was diagnosed with depression and discovered I had given up on joy a long time ago. I had replaced it with anger, disappointment, and bitterness. One of my regrets is that it is very difficult to share the love of Jesus with others when you are constantly sad. To me one of the keys to discovering joy is practicing forgiveness. Allowing myself to be forgiven and forgiving others enable me to tap into the joy that can only come from God.
Peace is the third fruit. Peace in the Bible is defined as an overall sense of well-being. At the core of peace is contentment. For me the opposite of peace is anxiety. One of many scriptures that makes me uncomfortable is Philippians 4:6-7.
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 NIV)
Anxiety has been a battle most of my life. The daily key for me to battling anxiety has been to begin the day with a prayer of thanksgiving. I give thanks to God for three specific things before I get out of bed. By the time I am done I generally recognize that I am blessed in amazing ways. I have a long way to go, but gratitude feeds contentment and I find peace is the result.
Forbearance, or patience is the fourth fruit. Other definitions of the Greek word include longsuffering and endurance. Patience is not a short-term emotion. Instead, it is a long-term attitude or response to an imperfect world. If you have not allowed the Spirit to grow this fruit in you by the time aging sets in life will be frustrating. A variety of limitations result in even simple tasks taking much longer to perform. For those of us who were often impatient with others it seems only fair that we must learn to be patient with ourselves. The alternative is to trade patience for testiness and that seems to impact all the other fruit.
Kindness is the fifth fruit. To me kindness is a thoughtful and beneficial response to someone’s need. Kindness would never result in harm to another person. It seems that kindness is something that naturally flows from love. However, it is not necessary to like someone to be kind to them. To be kind is to think about others. It is easier to be mean. Meanness and violence take a variety of forms and they make me feel powerful. Most people are not physically violent, but our words do great harm. Limiting our words to those that benefit and build up others is probably a good starting point for growing kindness. (Ephesians 4:29)
Goodness is the sixth fruit. Goodness must be a fruit of the Spirit. We are not good. Only God is good and for an action to be truly good it must flow from God working within us. When God is working in us then our lives will be defined by generosity and grace. Wickedness surrounds us and indwells us. We are fascinated by it, and it is our natural way to be. We must desire God if our desire is to be good.
Faithfulness is the seventh fruit. I have been unfaithful. In small ways and large I have betrayed those I love and care about most. At the root of betrayal or unfaithfulness is a desire to get revenge. When I’m hurt and I am unwilling to forgive then I seek ways to further damage the relationship which is wounded. When I am feeling defeated, I will seek ways to win at all costs. When I write these things out, I am struck by what a bad trade it is to be unfaithful rather than faithful.
Gentleness is the eighth fruit. Gentleness is the soft touch of a very strong person that comforts and reassures. Physical violence is the direct opposite. I do not work on cars. I am not strong enough. To loosen a frozen nut, I must exert some level of violence. This generally results in a skinned knuckle for me. People are not frozen nuts in a car. People generally respond better to gentleness.
Self-control is the final fruit. Most people I know want to experience some level of control over their environment and circumstances. When things are not going my way. it is easy to allow the environment and circumstances to control me. I react rather than respond. This is not helpful and sometimes leads to choosing a habit or substance which gives me the illusion of control. Instead, too often we trade self-control for addiction. It is very difficult to produce any of the fruit of the Spirit when addiction is in control.
Sometimes we use the fruit of the Spirit as a measure of spiritual maturity. The only way to do that is to compare ourselves to Jesus as the fruit is an excellent description of His character. As we have been challenged to look at the exchanges we make, lies for truth, I think it might be more helpful to go through this list and look for places where we have made a bad trade. I still make bad trades all the time. However, I am grateful for the few areas in my life where the work of the Spirit and the power of community have led me to give up some very bad trades.
What has been your worst trade when it comes to the fruit of the Spirit?
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