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A Bowl of Cherries or the Pits
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A Bowl of Cherries and the Pits And not only so, but we glory
in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience,
experience; and experience, hope. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which given unto us.
Romans 5:3-5 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance; against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22 We had a cherry tree near the
pasture gate when I was young. Around the latter part of May, I always went to
scout out the current year's crop of fruit. With the right kind of weather, and
without too many bugs, the tree would be heavy with red delights. Sometimes, I
got a little overeager, and didn't wait for them to get completely red. If they
were almost ripe, they weren't too bad, but if they had too much green they were
really sour. I knew very well that the process of ripening took time, but I
couldn't quite bring myself to wait. Besides the cherries I ate, some were
ruined by worms and birds, and some fell to the ground during spring storms. For
the ones that made it to be ripe fruit, the wait was well worthwhile, for me if
not for the cherries. Looking at a group of Christians
is kind of like looking at a bowl of cherries at various stages of ripeness.
Some are still green as grass, newly formed; others are the bright red of
maturity; and most are somewhere in between. Still others give the appearance of
being ripe, but their insides are eaten up with the worms of worldliness and
disobedience. And some, unfortunately, are rotten, and threaten to spoil
everything about them. Paul, in his letters to Timothy,
was a fully mature Christian, firmly grounded and rooted in Christ. Timothy, on
the other hand, was still young, and immature, in need of good counsel and
guidance. He was young, not only physically but spiritually, and apparently
unsure of himself. Paul told him not to give in to fear and timidity, and not to
let others put him down because of his youth. (2 Timothy 1:7) Study the
Scriptures, Paul said, and avoid useless intellectual debates. (1 Timothy 6:20.
2 Timothy 2:15-16, 3:16-17) He had enough confidence in his young protegee to
put him charge of the church at Ephesus, one of the most important of the early
churches. By contrast, Paul's letter to the
church at Corinth was a stinging indictment of spiritual immaturity. The church
had already split into factions, and emphasized the outward appearance of
spirituality rather than true obedience to the Spirit. They were still babies in
the faith, able to consume only the milk of the Word, the bare essentials, not
the meat that Paul wanted to share with them. (I Corinthians 3:1-3) When they
tolerated immoral behavior, particularly the man who committed adultery with his
father's wife, they felt a sense of smug spiritual superiority, but they were
actually spiritually bankrupt. (I Corinthians 5:1-2) If there's one condition that
typifies Christians today it's spiritual immaturity. Many, if not most,
Christians never progress beyond the experience of their salvation, while others
actually slide back even from that point. Just as with the growth of our
physical bodies, or the ripening of fruit, Christian maturity is a process that
continues over time. It doesn't happen overnight, and it must continue if we are
to grow and develop normally. It's interesting to note that Paul viewed the
process of maturity as beginning with tribulations, or the tests and trials we
all encounter. Both James and Peter took similar views. (James 1:2-4; 1 Peter
1:6-7) Unfortunately, many Christians back off when faced with problems stemming
from their beliefs, and the perceived sacrifice involved in putting God ahead of
our other priorities. When we look around us at the fire, our concern is being
burned; God uses fire to burn away impurities. (1 Peter 1:7) When we're
stretched to our limits, we focus on the pain; God sees us being enlarged so we
can hold more of Him in our lives. No one who has been a Christian
for ten or twenty years should still be living on baby food, always needing help
instead of giving it. To me, there are several factors by which we can measure
the degree of our maturity, none of which involve comparing ourselves to other
Christians. These include our knowledge of our faith, our exercise of our faith
in our relationship with God and others, the extent to which our self-control is
Spirit-control, and the degree to which we manifest God's love in and through
our lives. As mature Christians we should be
able to give an accounting of our faith, both knowing what we believe and being
able to explain it to others. (1 Peter 3:15) Among other things, we should be
able to discuss and define, and in many cases explain, terms and concepts like
these: agape love, atonement, creation, grace, Heaven and Hell, joy,
justification, Original Sin, peace, salvation, sanctification, the blood of
Christ, the offices of the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity (no one can really
explain it, but we should know what the Bible teaches about it). There are many
others, and they aren't just words, but the heart of what we believe. An
ignorant Christian is a defeated Christian; the only weapon we have against
Satan is the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We grow strong through exercise.
We exercise our faith when we trust God from day to day, in great matters and
small ones. As James said, "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:17) We're not
saved by works, and we don't remain saved by works, but the things we do give
evidence of our salvation to others. One thing that "keeping the faith" in times
of trouble does is make our faith stronger on the other side. It is no accident that self-control (temperance) is the last of the fruits of the Spirit Paul lists in Galatians. True maturity consists in finally giving ourselves over completely to the Spirit's direction. When the Lord controls what we think, say, and do, we have reached the final goal of Christian maturity. And what is the evidence of that control? Obedience! "If you love me," Christ said, "keep my commandments." (John 14:15) When we obey God, without questioning, we show we love him, and we show his love to others. Then, and only then, are we ripe fruit. The purpose of ripe fruit, of course, is to produce seeds to produce trees that in turn produce more fruit. That's where the pits come in…. |