Imitation is the sincerest form of bull sh**
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
One of the most difficult things a Christian will do is to undertake the task of imitating Christ.
Upon becoming saved and dedicated to serving and pleasing God one typically begins to transform their life.
We may change the way we talk, the things we read, the people we spend time with.
We feel convicted to leave certain behaviors and habits behind as we embark on a more “pure” and Godly lifestyle.
Perhaps we begin to attend church or a Bible study to learn more about how to do this better. Often we will make friends and or find community to spend time with other people that are on the same team, speaking the same new language we are learning.
Sadly very few of us will encounter the message of how to become more holy.
We will be presented with rules, “do’s and don’t’s” and we will expend energy contorting ourselves to meet these standards. We will try to be good people. We will emulate those we admire, but we will not be transformed. We will always fall short and we will know it and many of us will give up.
But who will tell us the truth about how to become more like Christ?
How to be different, better and spiritually healthier?
Jesus did.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
John 15
And here:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31
Mark 12
Here:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Matthew 32
and here:
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11
Paul in His letters to the many churches around the world, and specifically in Galatians spells it out for us as well.
Being loving, feeling joyful, having peace and patience, being kind, being good, being gentle, faithful and having self control these are the results of the Spirit growing in us.
These are not values we can embody by imitation but only through the transformation that occurs when our flesh begins to bow to the power of the Spirit in us.
The Holy Spirit must competitively exclude everything in us that is in opposition to these traits.
There is NO amount of performance, imitation, behavioral changes or psychology that will truly make us the person God has called us to be.
To be “holy as I am holy” is not about appearing to be a good person.
It’s not even about wanting to be a good person.
It’s the result of the presence of the Holy Spirit being present and growing in us.
In the same way that you can never expect to harvest tomatoes from a grape vine, you can never expect to display the fruits of the Spirit in an authentic and genuine everlasting manner without the Spirit.
You simply don’t have what it takes.
Oswald Chambers puts it beautifully in My Utmost For His Highest,
Our Lord never patches up our natural virtues, He re-makes the whole man on the inside….
Watch how God will wither up your confidence in natural virtues after sanctification and in any power you have, until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus.
Oh the time Christians spend on BEING good and imitating Christ rather than being TRANSFORMED by time spent loving the Lord their God with everything they have, their time, their energy, their heart, their minds….giving it all up, dying with Him (Romans 6:8) to be resurrected a new creation by Him and only Him.
As I learn more about the character of the Lord I see how much time I have spent doing the wrong work.
Tending a tomato plant and getting frustrated when it yields tomatoes and not grapes.
Why can’t I be more patient?
Where is my love and gentleness?
Why don’t I have self control?
Because I am/was white-knuckling it and trying to do it all myself, literally spending time and mental energy on trying to force myself to become different, to employ mindset tricks and new habits to create change.
I’m not saying that self-control or self-discipline are bad ideas.
We all have to start somewhere and learning to change our behavior is a wonderful start. It shows respect for God’s law and a desire to please Him, to throw off our old ways.
But it’s exhausting to spend our energy on changing our physical man and it’s futile.
Unless we are connected to the vine in every possible manner, the fruit we bear will never be what it should be.
We will fail to be transformed when we are trying to transform ourselves.
It’s God’s work. We should let Him do it.
I can’t tell you how to grow the Holy Spirit in yourself.
I know if requires consistent study, prayer, listening and worship but I also know that it’s possible to pray and read a Bible every single day of one’s life and never see the fruits of the Spirit grow.
If true transformative, flesh-changing, Spirit-growing change is what you seek, if you sincerely ask Him and are will to listen to His direction.
If you obsess over it, Him and time spent with Him the way you have obsessed over becoming a better person in your own strength, He will meet you, call you to what He has and give you your individualized steps to becoming transformed.
And I also know this,
it will cost you everything you have and it will be marvelous.
-Sarah