BP 199
Have you ever wondered if you’re growing in your faith? And what are the metrics that will tell you that you are experiencing such growth? Are these metrics observable and measurable, more performance based than anything else? Or is spiritual growth more intangible, not measurable by any human metric?
I do want to be careful as I discuss this topic since I’m sure there are many individuals in the family of God who are perfectionists, who base their value on high levels of performance in every area of life whether it be academic grades, job performance reviews, or how many days have passed since they fell into an old habit or sin. It seems to be so much about what they do (instead of believing that it is done.
I want to avoid feeding a belief in some that they are lovable if they achieve, perform, or are “good.” God loves us unconditionally and never bases His grace on our efforts. However, if we can divorce being loved from performance, it still might be helpful for us to know what signs point to a growth in faith because if we find out that we’re not growing, we can then pray for discernment and wisdom from others to discover what might be hindering our spiritual growth.
One last comment: I do not believe that external evidences of faith are as important as walking with Jesus, abiding in Him, learning how to love Him more, seeking His presence with a holy passion. Faith is first a relationship, then secondly fruit-bearing. Love before spiritual fruit. Intimacy with God before evidence of sanctification.
Religion is built on works. Walking with Jesus is firstly about relationship.
Here I rely on the words of the gospel writer. John 15:4ff says, “4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
We can see in these verses that bearing fruit is an important part of the Christian life. Bearing fruit appears to be evidence that we are abiding in Jesus. Bearing fruit does not make us acceptable to God. There is only one thing that makes us acceptable to God and it is not our performance, our good works, our fruit. These evidences of being a believer come after what Jesus has done for us.
Romans 5:1ff says, “1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Faith in Jesus, abiding in Him as John 15 says, exchanging our sin for His righteousness–these are the things that make us acceptable to God. We who once were far from God, alienated, separated from Him, strangers, not is people, are now brought near by the blood of Christ—not by our efforts!
Our fruit bearing, our performance, never is what reconciles us to God. What gives us peace with God is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our divine sacrifice who gives us access to the throne of God! However, bearing fruit is evidence that we are walking with God, that we are in right relationship with God. So, we want to be bearing fruit as Christians because the fruit shows that we are growing in friendship with Him. If we are intentionally practicing the presence of Jesus, we will bear fruit.
If we are not bearing fruit at the present moment, either we are not in a saving relationship with Jesus or something is hindering our growth–some stronghold or lie or accusation or sin or misbelief or lack of hunger or distrust for Jesus’ presence is tripping us up as we run the race of spiritual growth.
With all that said in way of introduction, what are some examples of the fruit that a Jesus follower will bear as she walks closer and closer with Him? I will make a non-exhaustive list below of fruit that a Christian will want to see growing on her branches as she abides in the vine of Jesus, as she sinks her roots deep by the stream so that the “tree” does not “fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit” ~ Jeremiah 17:8
+ Teachability
+ Growing humility. 1 Peter 5:6b-7 says, “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you . . .” One aspect of humility is putting others first, even identifying and taming a highly competitive spirit in you that must win at all costs, putting others behind and you in front. Be willing to serve others even if it comes at the cost of you not being first.
+ Loving others more. What does this increasing love look like or even, dare I say, feel like? Your heart will increasingly become like God’s heart as it is described in Jeremiah 31:20: “Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the LORD.” As you become more like Jesus, you will sense your heart yearning for God and others. You will begin to weep with those who weep or go far out of your comfort zone to show compassion to others. Many of us struggle to love others because we fear that they will interrupt our lives with their needs. As long as we can control the times of our interaction with others, it is acceptable, but when others reach out randomly and interrupt our lives, we might dislike these inconveniences. Yes, beware of feeling inconvenienced by others. Have boundaries but allow them to be crossed at the right times.
+ You increasingly seek your identity not in the world or in your own subjective self-evaluation but in Christ. You see yourself through His eyes, through His heart: “’My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,’ declares the LORD” ~ Jeremiah 31:20
+ Getting easily hurt less is a sign that we are not as preoccupied with ourselves and how we should be treated and more inclined to see what others need and feel. Often, we call this kind of growth empathy or compassion. Compassion is the opposite of narcissism.
+ Related to empathy is the ability to celebrate other individual’s successes even when we are not noticed. Personally, I think this fruit in the believer’s life is amazing if it is genuine. Some people can celebrate others on the outside but be green with envy on the inside. Those who can truly celebrate others inside and outside have grown significantly!
Remember the words of Philippians 2:3,4: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Yes, practice celebrating others and being thankful for them!
+ Like King Jehoshaphat and the Israelites, we increasingly trust God. Instead of looking to ourselves when we are anxious or depressed or looking at our circumstances and panicking, we turn our eyes to Him (2 Chronicles 20:12: “O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”). More and more, we know that God is real, that He loves us, and that He is big enough to walk with us through all our trials and fears.
+ Very closely related to the point above, we see God not in our own image but as separate from us and sovereign, big, beyond our imagination. If Christians see God like them, their God will be small and unhelpful in the darkness. Come to know Him in His word where, for example, it says, “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place . . .’” ~ Isaiah 57:15a.
+ You will experience little to no fear of death and an increasing trust that God will be with you even in your dying. He will give you dying grace, as the saints used to call it. In baptism, we symbolically died with Christ and were raised with Christ! Remember what Hebrews tells us about Jesus and our fear of death: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” 2:14-15.
+ You will increasingly develop a joy that is independent of circumstances instead of a happiness that is contingent on life events going your way. Anyone can feel happy when life is going well, but only those whose contentment is in the person of an unchangeable and faithful God will have joy even in suffering and trials. Continue to cultivate joy.
+ Praying more for others (instead of what you want). Praying more for what God will do in you instead of what He will do for you.
+ The shiny things of this world still can excite you, but you increasingly know they are mere shadows compared to heaven. They are fleeting. They are not your prime focus. They are not what you live for.
+ You begin to think about and even occasionally long for heaven. Some of you have longed for heaven since you were teenagers due to your suffering. Others rarely think about heaven because this present world seems so attractive. But the day will come for all Jesus lovers when eating, drinking, sex, traveling to exotic locations, movies, engrossing books will all begin to lose their striking flavor as your hunger for His presence grows more acute and intense. The things of this world simply will not compare to the glorious things of Him and of heaven.
+ You spend more time in God’s word. Dwelling in the Word of God becomes less of a chore to you, and you more often experience it as sustenance and tasty cuisine. You begin to realize that meditating on the word is being in God’s presence. It is also like a retirement plan that grows larger and larger as you make deposits in it. You will notice that God’s words flourish and grow in your heart like a mighty river that will bear away your anxieties and griefs on its back and will bring joy and peace to you.
+ Jesus becomes more personal to you. Faith in God is not about religion, rules, dos and don’ts, trying to be good. These strivings all come from our flesh which, influenced by self-sufficiency and pride, strives to earn righteousness instead of to receive it fully from Jesus. As you mature in your faith, Jesus becomes your primary love and motivation. Like the Psalmist, you pray, “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple” ~ 27:4.
+ You worry less about what others think about you because you have Someone else’s opinion that matters totally. It is easier to evangelize without feeling embarrassed or awkward.
+ As you trust God more, you will practice control less—control of others, of your future, of your own self as you white-knuckle your way through obedience. You increasingly know that God is in control, so you do not need to be. You may not even control your teenagers as much!
+ You will believe in your bones that God actually hears your prayers and answers them so you will pray with more confidence.
+ Maybe a bit redundant, but you will desire Jesus more. You will become like a deer panting for the water. Noting else will give you the deep joy of being with Him.
+ Some of you will move from your intellect to your heart. You will grow from loving only pure and pristine theology to loving messy people. Yes, you will begin to move out of the comfort zone of your black and white mind to the colorful world of loving, pursuing, listening to, needing, trusting, and forgiving people.
+ You will embrace a growing belief that suffering and groaning and sighing may not be desirable but they may not be bad. You will be shown by the Spirit of God that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put you to shame. The God who lives within you will remind you that one day this slight momentary affliction will be translated into glory in His presence. The day will come for you when you fully know and believe that glory will outweigh all of your suffering a million times over. You will still groan, but the hope of glory in His presence will help you to carry on with joy.
+ You will become less rigid and more nuanced while never sacrificing a jot or tittle of truth.
+ Some of you will finally gain access to your heart and its emotions while others will trust your hearts less and grow to see the stabilizing influence of God’s word and the importance of biblical truth.
+ You will become more gentle and patient when delivering the truth to others instead of being dogmatic and off putting.
+ You will realize that, yes, Jesus hates sin and died to deliver us from it, but you will increasingly see that He also is the friend of sinners. He leaves the 99 and pursues the one lost sheep-sinner because He does not wait for the sheep to find Him. He is a pursuer of sinners instead of a standoffish, give-them-the-cold-shoulder Judge. Romans 5:6-8 tells us, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Accordingly, as you become more like Jesus, you will pursue sinners with love and grace instead of taking a step away from them, horrified by their sin.
+ Material things will mean less to you. You will be more open-handed instead of close-fisted, more generous, and less worried about your investments on this earth. After all, your treasure is in heaven.
+ Your sin will bother you more because you understand the price Jesus paid for it and your sin will bother you less because you are delivered from all condemnation and shame by His blood.
+ You will trust God increasingly with your loved ones. Corrie Ten Boom once told Pastor Chuck Swindoll, “Hold your children loosely.” In other words, they will only be safe in God’s hands. You can’t keep any human safe.
+ You will grow in godly truth and discernment and will not trust the opinions of humans who dismiss the authority of God’s words.
+ The world will love you less and you will love the world less (not people but values, things, earthly attitudes).
+ You will become wiser as heavenly wisdom becomes the blood in your veins.
+ Increasingly, you will not fit into this world. You will feel more and more like a stranger, an alien, someone who is only passing through. You might even feel an odd loneliness or aloneness on this planet as you walk among others. Maybe you will even experience homesickness for His presence and for the celestial air of heaven.
+ You will worry about your physical body less as certain scriptural truths burrow deeply into your heart. One of these truths is found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
+ You will become less defensive and protective of yourself since you know that He is your Beautiful Defender, and you have no need to fend off the accusations of man or demon because you know that He loves you without condition.
+ You will see other people as eternal beings, more important than your dog, more important than your car, more important than your time. So, move toward them, not away from them. Move toward them, not against them.
+ Increasingly, love for what people do for you will be overshadowed by a love for who they are in God’s eyes.
+ Your mind and heart will flee more naturally to Him. As Thomas A Kempis said, “you will refer all things back to Him.” You will not be the reference point of your life. Neither will the world be your centering place. Jesus Christ alone will be your True North, the One to whom you will turn when light envelopes you and even when darkness slithers around you like a shroud. He will be your Light both in the light and in the darkness “for even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you” ~ Psalm 139:12.
There are so many additional fruits we could list here as evidence of spiritual growth. Write your own list if you wish. Recall the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Above all, practice these things in the days ahead: Seek Him with all your heart. Soak in the promises of His word. Sit alone in silence and ask Him to speak to you or, maybe most importantly, ask Him to be present with you in a place of wordless intimacy.
Also remember that the “secret” of the Christian walk is not to desire sinful things less. Not at all. The deep truth of the Christian life is to desire Him more. Don’t desire less. Thirst for Him. Hunger for Him. Simply ask Him to give you a deeper passion for Him. Ask Him to teach you how to abide in Him and to practice His presence.
Faith in Jesus is the only practice that works in this world. It explains everything in the end. So, be like C.S. Lewis and say, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
There is great fruit in knowing Jesus and seeing everything through His eyes and through His word.
Seek Him first and everything else will be added to you!
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” ~ Jeremiah 29:13.
“One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple” ~ Psalm 27:4
