The Rootedness Needed for the Fruit of the Spirit

Jeremiah 17:7 But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
17:8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (NIV)

I am finding a great deal of wisdom in a book aptly titled, The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in Mobile Culture, and one segment stood out with great relevance this morning. Referencing Jeremiah 17:7-9, he notes that "we can bear fruit, even in times of spiritual drought." Then, however, the author (Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove) reminds us that Jeremiah does not stop with these words of comfort and assurance but instead moves immediately to the state of our deceitful hearts. Wilson-Hartgrove notes, "Whatever help we may be able to offer someone else, we cannot trust our own fruit to sustain us. Our vitality depends on a root system beneath the surface, tying us to one another and connecting us to the deeper waters of God's sustaining presence." (pp 144-145)

In our weekly women's Bible study, we have been moving through the various aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, and this reminder that "we cannot trust our own fruit to sustain us" is especially relevant. How often we live our "good Christian lives" by trying on our own to be more joyful and patient and "good" (whatever that may be!), forgetting that no tree exists by eating its own fruit. The Jeremiah passage puts the chronology in right order: the tree puts out its roots into the life-giving stream of the Spirit, and it is from there that its growth remains strong, its leaves are green, and the fruits--of the Spirit, not itself--can become manifest.

The other reminder from Wilson-Hartgrove is also good. The roots that we put down into God's spirit become intertwined and entangled with those of other believers and, in so doing, we are strengthened within the community of believers. Frequently cited but still worth mentioning, the ability of the California redwood stands to remain strong over centuries is a great illustration of how the Christian community of believers can grow together:

It might seem unintuitive that the redwood trees grow close together because being close together they have to fight for sunlight and other resources. But their intertwining roots grow interconnected and help the trees survive standing together. Additionally, these trees are adopted to surviving forest fires as their bark is extra thick. Sometimes the insides of the redwood trees are burned out, but the tree keeps growing because most of it is protected and survives. (http://www.hikingsanfrancisco.com/outdoors/redwood_trees.php)

On this day of worship, I need to remember both of these aspects, the need to draw deeply from the Spirit's sustenance and to do so intertwined with the lives and faith of the fellowship of believers all around me. Only in doing so can the fruit of the Spirit truly begin to manifest itself in my life.