Counterfeit Fruit Summary

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

In Galatians 5:22–23 (NLT) God assures us, “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” if we “follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (Gal. 5:25 NLT). The fruit of the Spirit encompasses the distinctiveness of God. No human plantation can create a vineyard such as His. God is the divine husbandman. He plants the vine and prunes it precisely to produce the fruit He wants. This fruit completes His portrait so the watching world can see a glimpse of Christ through our lives.

This post concludes this series as we have been assessing the fruit God wishes to produce through His Spirit. But in our desire for independence we attempt to counterfeit God’s fruit with our own design. Desiring all He has for us but not willing to give all we are to Him, we endeavor to circumvent His plan by producing our fruit of the flesh. Our miserable efforts culminate in disastrous results: emptiness, futility, turmoil, and frustration to name a few. Obtaining an education as a fruit inspector will prepare us to distinguish between the authentic fruit of the Spirit and the counterfeit fruit of the flesh.

Our efforts to control our lives produce undesirable results. But still we attempt to counterfeit God’s design for our lives through our own efforts. With tenacity we persist in demanding that our way must work. And so we continue to counterfeit the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Deceived, we believe the fruit of the Spirit is merely the best side of humanity. If we try hard enough we can manufacture this fruit consistently in our lives. But living a life that is desperately dependent on Christ necessitates yielding to His Spirit’s movement as we cease endeavoring to produce our own fruit. We are incapable of producing His fruit on our own vines; we can only produce His fruit as we are grafted into His vine.

Too often our dishonesty is apparent when we pretend we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, when in actuality we are only displaying the counterfeit fruit of the flesh. When the culmination of the counterfeits becomes evident in our lives, our deception is unmasked. We create our own version of genuineness and attempt to convince those around us that we are virtuous. Without recognizing God’s absolute truth, we elevate our personal perspective as truth that should be upheld. By espousing statements such as “I honestly believe you should . . .” we promote our beliefs above God’s truth and deceive others. After all, we say, “I am being honest.” Although we may assert we are being honest, we pervert the virtue of honesty to be equivalent to God’s truth. Our so-called honesty is really a cover for being dishonest with God. We elevate our perception above God’s truth. Believing our own deception, we prevent movement toward God. Psalm 119:29 (NLT) acknowledges that we deceive ourselves:

“Keep me from lying to myself;
      give me the privilege of knowing your instructions.”

As we understand God’s instructions more completely, we can destroy the power of the lies that keep us from desperately depending on God for our sufficiency. Free from the culminations of the counterfeits, we can experience the abundance of His authentic fruit.

We must realize that it is our attempts to be independent from God that are destroying our lives. God designed humanity to live in a relationship dependent on Him, but our desire is for God to empower life on our terms. God offers love, joy, peace, and patience, but we counterfeit His fruit by being self-centered, pleasure oriented, comfort seeking, and controlling. Our meager efforts culminate with emptiness, futility, turmoil, and frustration. We cannot have optimal fulfillment apart from what we were created to be: complete in Christ.

Consider:
What do I need to let go of so the Holy Spirit's fruit can be evidenced in my life?