The Season for Fruit

I am focused on simplifying my life. I've been thinking less complicated thoughts and getting rid of junk. I read a portion from Stephen F. Winward's book, "Fruits of the Spirit" recorded in my Benson book. Writings such as his help me focus on what is really important.

He encourages us to take a piece of paper and write out a question at the top. Jesus asked a man in need this same question. It is, "What do you want me to do for you?" (Mark 10:51)

Then write down three desires you have;
what you want more than anything in the whole world.
(I kept reading and missed out on the benefit of this exercise.
Perhaps you could learn from my mistake.)

He goes on to say,
"Now, look at your three chief desires.
Do you want to have, to do, or to be?
Do they refer to possessions, achievements or character?

When the question "What would you like me to give you?"
was put to young Solomon, he asked for a quality of character.
"Give me the wisdom I need." (I Kings 3:5,9)

I hope that one at least of your three desires has to do with character.
For the grand purpose of God is that we should
"become like His Son"(Rom. 8:29).
No Christian could possibly have a greater ambition.

So, happy the person who can truthfully give this answer
to the question put by Jesus,
"What I want you to do for me, Lord,
is to make me a loving, joyful, peaceable,
patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle,
disciplined Christian." "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think that is another way of saying
that you want to be
like Jesus.
Jesus Himself, learned obedience
by the things He suffered.
We don't want to hear about suffering.
I don't anyway.

And sometimes,
we refuse to allow our loved ones
to suffer the 'cause and effect' consequences
of their own behavior that comes their way,
or even the lessons of living and getting along with others.
We rescue them and protect them and by doing that
in an unhealthy way,
we stunt their growth in character
and make them weak.
(There are times however, that it is necessary
to do so. This is why we need wisdom and a secure
soul in order to discern what's what.)

God does allow difficult things
to touch our lives
and the 'all things that work together for good'
is the fact that we are actually
conformed into the image of His Son.

That is the good.

Sometimes we cause the difficult times in our lives
and sometimes God allows them
and sometimes He plans the trial of our faith
so we can become like Gold tried by fire.

Sometimes, it is a no-brainer.
Sometimes, it is a mystery.

But His ultimate purpose
whether the difficulty is caused by our own failings,
or God, or life, or satan,
is for us to be conformed into the image of Jesus.
He can use anything to make that happen.

And Jesus is
loving, joyful, peaceable, patient,
kind, good, faithful, gentle,
and disciplined.

The fruit of the Holy Spirit
is the Spirit of Jesus
made manifest in our lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love that Jesus asked so many questions.
The questions of Jesus would make an interesting study.

"What do you want me to do for you?"
"Do you want to be well?"
"Where is your faith?"
"Do you love me more than these?"

I think He also asks,
"Do you know how much I love you?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Post script:
Our pastor preached this Sunday on something similar to what I just wrote.
It helped me see how God is always keeping me in balance.
I wrote here about what we are looking for God to do for us.
That is a valid question and it is one that Jesus Himself asked.

But God is also looking for something from us.
"Lord," we pray. "What do you want from me?"

Here are some of the notes from this morning's sermon.

God is looking for people to love Him. The first commandment
is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

He is seeking for worshippers who will worship Him
in Spirit and in Truth.

His eyes look to and fro across the earth to find those whose
hearts are loyal to Him. He wants to show Himself strong
to those people.

He is looking for those who want His presence more than anything
else. His Spirit searches the deep things of God and reveals
them to those who hunger and thirst for Him.

He is looking for those who are lovingly longing
for His appearing.

To sum it up:
He wants our love,
our worship,
our loyalty,
our desire,
our depth,
our hunger and thirst.
He wants us to look forward
to seeing His face.

Look at those words.
They all have to do with pressing into Him.
Pushing through the crowd.
Forgetting all else.
It makes my heart ache just to read them.

Oh, God!
Help me love you with the love You
and Jesus loved
each other.

Make me into the person that you are looking for.

Help me worship You in Spirit and in Truth.

Let me be that Eve you long after.
Let me fill the void in Your heart
that only I can fill.
Let me walk with you in the garden
and not hide my face from You.

Lord,
I believe.
Help Thou my unbelief.

Lord,
I love you so.
Help me love you more.

With my whole heart
have I sought Thee.
Help me seek You more.