What are the FOTS?

"The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control." These are the qualities that, as Christians, we are to develop in our lives. I guess that in the past I haven't really thought about exactly how these fruits were to develop in my life. I must have figured that since I'm a Christian, God would just bestow the fruits upon me and I would magically have them. I would suddenly be more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, etc. But, when I think about it now, this is crazy! Sometimes I wish that this would happen. How nice would it be to just be a better person without having to do anything! We cannot really become better people without a period of growth. Just magically having the fruits would not better our spirits. It is the period of growth, the part that gets us the fruits, that really matters and that really makes us better people. It is change from the inside out.

So, what does this period of growth look like? How do I get from where I am now to having all of the fruits? I don't know about you, but it seems that when I try to just be more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, etc. is when I fail the most miserably. Lately I've been thinking that there must be concrete, practical, and little steps I can take to start growing in these areas. I think it starts with knowing what exactly the fruits are. What does it mean to have each of these qualities? What does a fruitful life really look like? How does a fruitful person act, think, and treat people? This is where I want to begin this project. Taking each fruit one at a time and learning about it so that I can incorporate it into my life.

This life on earth is about learning and growing. It's about the journey. It's about growing into a person that can fellowship with God and be in His presence for eternity. C.S. Lewis says in his book Till We Have Faces, "How can [God] meet us face to face until we have faces?" The learning, trying, and growth that we experience in this life is giving us our real "faces" so that one day we can see face to face. Paul says in I Corinthians 13, "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face." This is our goal. Starting with the fruits is a way to move down the road towards that goal.