Fruit Study - Edition #1: Good Fruit - BOOM

June 4th, 2006

Fruit Study – Edition #1: Good Fruit - BOOM

James 3:13-18
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

You know, I dig James. The guy just throws it out there, BOOM, there it is, and says, don’t look at what the new nifty Nintendo Ten Thousand 64 that your neighbor has with the quadruple handlebar joystick fighter-pilot gizmos that go with it, not to mention the glow-in-the-dark games that make your pupils dilate and pop you shoot some monster. Or ladies, the sparkly, razzle-dazzle dress ensemble made by some wondrous French fashion designer your boss walks in with, she looks sharp, she got on sale, she looks great, at least you think she looks better than you… BOOM. You know… I feel like John Madden doing a Tinactin commercial (BOOM this and BOOM that, you know). When focus is lost on others, at least in serving them, and is twisted onto me and what I don’t have, then it is easy to see that I don’t have the newest gaming system, the best this or that, or whatever… It really is easy to see what I “DON’T” have.

James 3:14 harbor:
echō
ekh'-o
To hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remote; such as possession, ability, contiguity, relation or condition): - be (able, X hold, possessed with), accompany, + begin to amend, can (+ -not), X conceive, count, diseased, do, + eat, + enjoy, + fear, following, have, hold, keep, + lack, + go to law, lie, + must needs, + of necessity, + need, next, + recover, + reign, + rest, return, X sick, take for, + tremble, + uncircumcised, use.

James 3:16 selfish ambition:
eritheia
er-ith-i'-ah
Properly intrigue, that is, (by implication) faction: - contention (-ious), strife.

Faction (noun):

• A clique (often secret) that seeks power usually through intrigue.
• A dissenting clique.

Strife (noun):

• Heated, often violent dissension; bitter conflict.
• A struggle, fight, or quarrel.
• Lack of agreement or harmony.
• Bitter conflict; heated often violent dissension.

These definitions and such show me what happens when I focus on what I “DON’T” have. But what happens when I focus on the things that I do have? And not just the material possessions, even the things that I can’t touch… like the breath in my lungs, the smile on my beautiful wife’s face, the stars in the evening sky… those things are sometimes the most glorious, most precious things. The laughter of my son is so priceless, it gives me so much joy, but when he is sleeping, a sleeping child, I don’t know what is more precious, I guess it depends on the moment. These things, they can’t be taken away from me. They are my memories. With age, some may fade, slip away with time, but I will never forget that I should pray aloud when I am praying in a group, and that if I am not baptized and someone were to come in with a shotgun and shoot me dead, that I would indeed to go hell. If the shooter gets baptizes or repents, well… I don’t know… I’m not the judge and I’d already be dead. I just need to focus on the good things in life, the things that push me forward. If I have wisdom from God, then I would be calm, patient, considerate, compliant, full of compassionate treatment and beneficial fruit (freshly picked), undistinguished and sincere. Now, I’m not a wise guy, unless maybe one of the three stooges types… but please don’t try to poke fingers in my eyes. My son did that a couple of days ago and that really did hurt. The qualities of wisdom, just from this passage:

• Pure
• Peace-loving
• Considerate
• Submissive
• Full of Mercy
• Good Fruit
• Impartial
• Sincere

Impartial… wow-e-wow Batman, I don’t about any of you, but that is probably the toughest thing since 20 year old beef jerky to hit my plate. It makes sense, though. To be Christ like, you can’t go around about carrying attitudes. That whole first part was all about harboring things… here I am on this second, did I look in the mirror and already forget or what? It’s a great scripture, wanted to park in it today. Johnny Out.

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