“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” I am amazed by Francis Bacon’s concise and thorough description in how we truly gain knowledge and understanding. I would add that it is writing that gains precision and permanence in our thinking. Such are those who are carried along by God to write His inspired words for the reassurance and enrichment of His family. If you have read Called to Be God’s Image Bearers, then you understand that God has laid upon my heart a burden to make known the need for each one who is “called” to seek an intimate relationship with the Father. To come to a knowledge of His involvement throughout history is in stark contrast to the evangelical image of a “buddy” relationship with only Jesus.
It is through skillfully lived lives that we project a true image of the Deity. To that end, this site is a platform for presenting “a teaching” that is intended for you to “contemplate the Deity” and therefore, “grow” in your relationship with our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior.
How the Fruit of the Spirit Forms Our Testimony as Living Stones
You should recall that God instructed the family of Abraham to build a monument of stacked stones where He intervened on their behalf. It opened a conversation between the person(s) who inquired about the standing stones, and the locals who could then explain the miraculously intercession of God. To begin my defense of the title of this teaching I turn to 1 Peter 2:4-12,
“Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when He comes to judge” (NRSV).
So, how is it that we live in a way which demonstrates a holiness and shows that we are no longer living according to the dark sin nature? Christ’s atoning sacrifice freed us from living under the burden of the law, so under this freedom how do we live differently, which correctly forms our testimony as living stones? Paul’s instructions found in Galatians 5:22-25 defines the parameters of skillful living within the family of God, “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.” (NRSV) In each passage, Peter’s (But you are…) and Paul’s (By contrast,…), are contrasting the life of the believer with those that remain immersed in the sin nature. To better understand how these character traits form our testimony as living stones I researched the word fruit. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary delineates the transitive verb (action that is done to someone or something) as, “to cause to bear fruit.” Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control delineate who we are, and each trait is a stone that forms our testimony. If the Holy Spirit enables someone to take notice and then ask why we have a confidence and contentment for life, we can then say, “this is what Christ has done in my life.”
I would contend that many Christians lives are marked by a shapeless pile of gravel, not the distinctive standing stones that Paul referred to in his letter to the Galatian churches. But that is another teaching.
