“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”[1]
I think that people confuse character with personality. But many times I find myself trying to act religious, or think that I have to behave a certain way to be seen as religious. But we can’t really change our personality – we can only change our hearts. In the 70’s many churches shunned youth with long hair (or these days with tattoos), but many congregations learned to look at character instead of personality.
Our bodies frame our personality and what we do with them exhibits our character, but each in its own way. God wants us to all have the same character but unique personalities or personhood. So God gives us the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, because God wants us to grow in love, joy, peace, forbearance, and so forth, which is known as “the fruit of the Spirit,” which is singular. It is an expression of the whole character of God, not just one piece of fruit at a time. This fruit is God’s character being reformed in us (this is called our “sanctification,”) but expressed through our own unique and individual personalities. Some people are more quiet and reflective, while others are more vocal and outgoing, yet God wants them to retain their personhood but grow in love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Jesus even warned against the hypocrisy of trying to look or act religious when giving alms (ostentatiously), fasting (mournful, sorrowful) or praying (loud and obnoxious)[2], because it is the heart that matters, not just the outward actions and the heart dictates our character. And we each express ourselves in different mannerisms. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”[3]
So “be yourself” exhibiting all the character that God wants in each of us.
Therefore the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians exhorts us as Christians: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.”[4] We are to grow in character, to be “fruitful and multiply” in our growth, so that we become closer and closer to the image of God that we were made like before the Fall.
I believe that when we all get to heaven, we will recognize each other, not by our clothes or physical stature, but our personalities, which will perfectly reflect God’s glory of love, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Then people will see our true selves as we reflect God’s glory. “By their fruit you will recognize them.”[5]
[1] Galatians 5:22-23
[2] Matthew 6:1-8
[3] II Corinthians 5:17
[4] II Corinthians 4:6
[5] Matthew 7:16
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