Guest Post: Nicole Cottrell :: Fruit of Submission

 

I invited guests to reflect on the fruit of being planted in Christ. I pray you are ministered by their journey and ponderings of faith.

Nicole Cottrell
Modern Reject
www.modernreject.com

Nicole is trained in the fine art of button-pushing. She uses her skills daily on Modern Reject where she writes about Dying Daily, Culture, Love, and Unpopular stuff no one else likes to talk about. She loves strong coffee, B movies, and Jesus...a lot. Nicole lives in Scottsdale with her husband and two munchkins, three of the coolest and funniest people she knows.

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FRUIT OF SUBMISSION

I vaguely remember first reading Galatians’ list of the Fruit of the Spirit. I was a new believer and hungrily taking in as much of the Word as I could.

Scanning that list, though, as a new Christian, I felt overwhelmed. Certainly I could never display all of those things—especially simultaneously. It was hopeless, or so it seemed.

That list—that darn Fruit of the Spirit list—makes many of us uncomfortable or leads us to feel defeated. I get it, but it doesn’t mean the Spirit isn’t working.

Lately, the Spirit has impressed upon me my need to stop whining like a baby, quit pretending like God isn’t going to show up, and end all the self-doubt and God-doubt. Turns out that is a Fruit of the Spirit.

Which Fruit of the Spirit, you may ask?

Well, it is the often overlooked “faithfulness” or “long-suffering.” I prefer the definition of long-suffering because that is often how it feels—like I suffer…for a long time.

You see, often times, when we read the word “faithfulness” in the list of fruits, we tend to assume that faithfulness refers only to us being faithful to God. However, that is not the case.

Faithfulness or long-suffering more specifically refers to us remembering God’s faithfulness to us, so that we might be faithful to His work and His people.

One commentator puts it this way: “Long-mindedness, bearing with the frailties and provocations of others, from the consideration that God has borne long with ours; and that, if He had not, we should have been speedily consumed…”

So basically, in all of my grumbling and complaining that God isn’t doing things the way I think He should or isn’t doing what I would do (since I am all-knowing and all-powerful, of course), He has shown me that faithfulness is remembering. It is long-mindedness.

Faithfulness is saying, “Oh yeah, God didn’t let me down. In fact, He has never let me down. Heck, He will never let me down.”

If that weren’t enough, faithfulness goes even one step further. When I have felt tempted to complain or forget what God has done, it is not enough for me to say, “He will never let me down.” I must also willingly submit to what He is doing and, in doing so, submit “cheerfully to every dispensation of God's providence, and thus deriv[e] benefit from every occurrence.”

Faithfulness also says we submit to the Lord’s will, being blessed in the process.

So, if you are like me and you tend to grumble, complain, or forget what God has done, may the Spirit grow you in long-suffering, like He has me. May you always remember what He has done and cheerfully submit to what He is doing.

PLANTED is a 4-week Bible Study. This is Week 2: Firmly Rooted. View an overview of weekly lessons. // Begin week 1, Sowing Seeds // Subscribe now to receive posts via email or rss feeder.