Life in the Spirit: Fruit of the Spirit
I love memes.
Some of my favorites are the memes that talk about memes–like the ones that talk about how true friendship consists of sending memes back and forth for weeks at a time and then out of the blue one calls the other crying.
Because truth.
Some of my other favorite memes are Christian memes–not the super serious, overly theological Christian memes and Instagram posts. Those are great, and they definitely have their place in the world, but my favorite accounts to follow are the funny ones, the tongue-in-cheek ones, the ones whose creators have survived church hurt, spiritual abuse, and religious trauma and have somehow managed to find their senses of humor again.
I love the ones that address the conversations from church camp about dress codes.
Some of my other favorites are the ones that show actual church signs.
And, I can’t pass up a good meme connecting theology to The Office (and I don’t even like The Office).
I also love reels about cats, though, so I’m not sure if you should trust my judgment on what Instagram accounts to follow…I digress…
I was scrolling through Instagram and enjoying some great, epic even, Christian memes when I stumbled across one of my favorite Christian meme accounts that had posted the question asking their followers to identify red flags in churches.
I thought it was an odd request coming from this specific account.
Knowing the account posts funny, very tongue-in-cheek, and extremely anti-fundamentalist memes multiple times daily, I thought it would be entertaining to read the comments.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I opened the comment section and was met with the most extreme bigotry, racism, and hate I had seen in a hot minute.
I spent way too many years in those environments myself, and so I purposefully try to avoid them in my life these days–both my real life and my online life.
I was shocked at the comments.
I couldn’t understand how an account that purposefully pokes fun at legalism and fundamentalism could draw such a litany of legalistics and fundamentalists.
As I read through the comments attacking women preachers, rainbow flags, “all are welcome” environments, multi-culturalism, and anything else that didn’t completely align with white Christian Nationalism, I think my soul died a little.
I don’t know what specifically I expected, but I know for sure this wasn’t it.
There was so much hate.
So much judgment.
So much hypocrisy.
There were over 600 comments on this post, and I only made it through a few of them before I found myself scrolling only to look for those keywords, shocked that the majority of the comments contained them.
I stopped on one comment that echoed my thoughts and found myself drawn to the replies–90% of which were full of hatred and attacks on the commentator.
All in the name of Jesus, of course.
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Life in the Spirit
I’ve spent the last couple of months digging into Galatians 5, thinking I would discuss the Fruit of the Spirit but finding myself entrenched in all of Paul’s teachings in this chapter. Just when I think I’m going to be done and move on to a new series, God throws something else in my path that makes me go right back to Galatians 5, and this week was no different.
Last week, I dug into Paul’s words immediately following his list of the qualities of the Fruit of the Spirit when he says:
Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. Galatians 5:23 (TPT)
There’s still one more paragraph at the end of Galatians 5, though, and as I was reading all these hate-filled comments from the religious folks on Instagram, these words resonated in the back of my mind. Paul ends this section of his letter to the Galatians with these words:
Keep in mind that we who belong to Jesus Christ have already experienced crucifixion. For everything connected with our self-life was put to death on the cross and crucified with Messiah. If the Spirit is the source of our life, we must also allow the Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives. So may we never be arrogant, or look down on another, for each of us is an original. We must forsake all jealousy that diminishes the value of others.
Galatians 5:24-26 TPT
As Paul explains, if we belong to Christ, all remnants of our selfishness and our life dominated by self have already been crucified with Christ. As a result, our life source is the Holy Spirit, and we are called to allow the Holy Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives.
Every aspect of our lives.
Including our comments on Instagram posts.
Even more than that, the Holy Spirit should infiltrate our hearts, and if our hearts are filled with the very Spirit and essence of God, there’s no room for hate there. And, if there’s no room for hate in our hearts, there definitely won’t be room for hate in our actions.
That’s what life looks like in the Spirit, and all those qualities Paul talked about in verses 23 and 24 are going to overflow in our lives instead of hate.
This makes me think of that final conversation Jesus had with his disciples before he was arrested on that Maundy Thursday.
I find myself completely mesmerized by all of the things that happen on Maundy Thursday–the day before Good Friday. We talk about Good Friday and Easter so often in our faith communities, but so much of the foundation of our faith was laid on that Thursday evening.
We see Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and telling them they should do the same for others.
We see Jesus introduce the metaphor of communion.
We hear Jesus explain that He’s going ahead to prepare a place for us.
We hear Jesus predict Judas’s and Peter’s betrayal and denials.
We hear Jesus introduce the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We hear Jesus’s message to us to love people.
Sometimes, I think that message gets lost in our churches and even in our own lives. Jesus told his disciples:
So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you. For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.
John 15:12-13 TPT
And, then, to drive the point home, Jesus ends this entire heartfelt speech to His disciples with this:
So this is my parting command: Love one another deeply!
John 15:17 TPT
How much different would this be if Jesus’s final command to the disciples was anything else, if instead of commanding them to love and love deeply,
He had commanded them to follow the law and follow it exactly?
He had commanded them to teach intellectually and leave no room for error?
He had commanded them to hate everyone who thought, looked, or loved differently than they did?
Those weren’t his commands, though.
His command was to love and love deeply.
And, he promised to send them a helper in the form of the Holy Spirit to allow them do just that.
The essence of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the spirit, is love.
If our lives are directed by the Spirit, they will be filled with love, and we will love deeply.
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A Life in the Spirit is never Arrogant
One thing I’ve found in my life is that it’s very difficult to love someone when I’m looking down on them.
Paul understood this.
In the last part of Galatians 5:26, Paul talks about this. He says:
So may we never be arrogant, or look down on another, for each of us is an original. We must forsake all jealousy that diminishes the value of others.
Galatians 5:26 TPT
As I read through those Instagram comments, I was overcome by the amount of hatred, pretentiousness, and arrogance that resonated throughout them. So many people looking down on and judging others and completely diminishing their value because they disagreed with how they look, or who they love, or what gender they are.
Where is the Jesus in that?
Where are the qualities of the fruit of the spirit?
This is exactly the kind of attitude, heart, and behavior Paul was warning against, and it is about the furthest thing from Jesus’s command to love others deeply.
Every time I read comments like this, hear about churches that are preaching these kinds of attitudes or behaviors, or see people preaching hate in the name of Jesus, it baffles me for a variety of reasons, but for this one reason especially:
Hate is never going to be the catalyst that propels someone into a loving relationship with their Creator.
Never.
It’s impossible.
Hate and love can’t coexist.
Preaching hate and expecting love for God are counter to one another.
Friend, if you find people–in the church and outside of it at times–overwhelming, baffling, and depressing, I can assure you that you are not alone. While we can’t control the narratives coming out of these churches, we can control the ones coming out of our mouths that overflow from our hearts. It’s my prayer for you that your narrative is one of love, that your heart is filled with the Spirit, and that you invite the Holy Spirit to direct every aspect of your own life.
Because that’s what you can control.
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Reflections:
Paul tells us the Holy Spirit should direct every aspect of our lives. What’s the hardest thing for you to take your hands off of and let the Holy Spirit take control of?
Where are the areas in your life you find it hardest to love deeply in?
Who do you have a difficult time valuing?
