A new part of my spiritual journey is that I’m beginning to see the fruit of the Spirit in a new light. Living in the life of Christ implies that he produces something in me. Giving up any efforts to please or conform seems like the doorway a life of faith. I have found comfort in the knowledge that Father, by his Spirit, is doing what I could never do. Grace is not just a means to overcome my hangups, it is an invitation into the life of the Spirit.
Wayne Jacobsen unpacks this a little recently:
I’m in Kenya at the moment so I’m not sure when I’ll get to an internet connection to send this out, but I recently answered a similar question by email and will post my response here. I hope it helps. In the end, however, it is never easy to convince someone of these things if the Spirit of God is not opening their eyes…
“I can say this about the parable of the talents, it can be viewed as a performance encouragement by those who want to, but a closer reading would indicate that what the parable is really getting at is the fruit of a life lived well, not a performance to impress the King. The one who was most fearful about performance, ended up doing the wrong thing, if you¹ll remember. He was too scared of being punished to take his talent and live with it in a way that would bear fruit.
I think many people bring a performance interpretation to this passage, because that¹s how they see God. I used to as well. But when you see God as inviting us into transformation and freedom, then you see how paralyzing the spirit of performance truly is.
Wayne”
