THE FRUIT OF SALVATION

‭Philippians 1:11 NLT‬
[11] “May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”

Our prayers for one another should always have a goal. Yes, we want the Lord to work in our lives; yes we want Him to sort out our trials and struggles so that we move along in our desire to be holy and to do His will; yes, we want to be more like Jesus, even if we are surrounded by the evil influences of our messed-up world, but… for what purpose? Where is all this going?

Paul puts the full stop at the end of the sentence… “the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”

Did you get that? Life is full of circles, but the most important of all… God’s glory is the centre, the hub, the focal point of all circles. It’s all about Him. The final meaning of every circle is about Him. Why? He wants us to know how great He is for two reasons, not to blow His own trumpet but…

1…. So that we will love and trust Him enough to enjoy Him and everything we know about Him, and…

2…So that others will catch glimpses of Him in us that will help them get to know and love Him too.

And this becomes the greatest circle in the circles of life. Paul urged his readers in more than one letter to “do everything you do for God’s glory,” even ordinary things like eating and drinking.

What did Paul mean? God’s glory refers to everything He is in His nature and attributes. We cannot reflect God’s attributes because we are not all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere, but we can show people what He is like in His nature by imitating the way He treats people. The best way for us to know what God is like is by looking at Jesus. He is the reflection of all God’s nature in a human person.

‭Hebrews 1:3 NLT‬
[3] “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God…”

‭John 14:9 NLT‬
[9] “Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?”

When we treat people the way God treats us, with patience, kindness, and mercy, people around us begin to get an idea of what the real God is like, not the distorted ideas we have about Him.

Trouble is that we are easily influenced by others who have wrong ideas about God. Unless we learn the truth about Him from His Word, we won’t be able imagine a God anything like He really is.

When people who reject God is and create a god in their own image, they project that image onto the God of the Bible. It’s no wonder people hate God, are afraid of Him and run from Him!

If the essence of God’s nature is love and everything He does, even if we don’t understand His ways, flows from His love, then our lives, guided by the love of God, will help us to point others to Him. The Holy Spirit in us, as we follow His leading, will produce the spiritual fruit that shows something of God’s character to our fellow humans.

So, Paul prays, “Amen“ to God’s desire for us to be like Jesus, “Let it be so,” so that others will believe in Him too. That should be the real purpose of our lives.