BigStuf Quiet Time Devotional: How to See GodSample

Let me ask you a question.

What do you think God looks like?

See, Jesus came to show us what God is like. Seeing Jesus was seeing God. And even though Jesus isn’t taking walks through our local grocery stores, maybe there’s a way we can get a glimpse of God daily, right here, right now.

According to one of the earliest Christian leaders and writers, Paul, that’s possible. But first, let’s back up.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to earth to show us what God is like. (He crushed that goal, by the way...flawless.) Then, He invited us to follow His example. Follow the leader, you know?

And all that sounds pretty easy . . . BUT, then He left. He pulled off the whole come-back-to-life thing and then bounced while we, His followers, were left wondering how in the world we’re supposed to follow the leader when the Leader is invisible.

But it’s not over for us. Before Jesus left, He promised that He would send His Spirit (maybe you’ve heard Him referred to as the Holy Spirit) to help us. We wouldn’t necessarily see the Spirit, but we would see what the Spirit was up to in the world and hear Him in our hearts and minds as He guides us.

That’s where Paul’s words come in. He seemed to think there was a very real way to see what God was up to in the world around us. Paul’s thoughts are written in a letter he sent to one of the churches he started.

Check out what he had to say:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23a NLT).

Okay, there’s a word picture that comes to mind when we read these verses. It’s that basket of fruit full of fake apples at your grandma’s house. Or the strange décor at the dentist’s office. We think fruit and well, we think fruit. Like oranges, bananas, mangoes, and apples.

Is this what Paul was talking about? Well, yes and no.

He was using a word picture to help his readers understand something important. Thankfully for us, the metaphor still works today.

You probably saw a bunch of fruit growing on trees on the way here: oranges, apples . . . even lemons and limes. Okay, maybe you were asleep on the bus, but trust me, they were there. And because of THOSE trees, we have fruit here at camp (and in our grocery stores). Fruit trees make fruit. Obvi.

But, how do you know that a fruit tree is alive? Well, you wait and see if it produces any fruit. If it does, you know there’s life inside of it. If no fruit shows up, the tree isn’t doing what it was made to do. Something isn’t working.

In other words, fruit is evidence of life inside of the tree.

The same is true with the Spirit.

If there is “fruit” in our life like the fruit Paul mentioned (you know . . . this fruit looks like love, joy, peace, etc.), then it’s evidence of the Spirit at work inside us.

You could say it this way: Even though God is invisible, there is visible “fruit” or evidence of God around us every day.

When we see love, we see God.

When we see joy, we see God.

When we see peace, we see God.

When we see patience, we see God.

When we see kindness, we see God.

When we see goodness, we see God.

When we see faithfulness, we see God.

When we see gentleness, we see God.

When we see self-control, we see God.

Right now, take some time and think about your own life.

Which of these attributes of God’s fruit do you currently see in your own life?

How have you seen these attributes of God’s fruit in the lives of people you are with this week?

Now look back at the list of the attributes of the fruit from Galatians 5:22-23a. It’s not just a list that describes humans. This is a list that describes God too. Do any of those characteristics surprise you about God? Have you experienced God being like any of those this week (or ever)?

Read

Read Galatians 5:22-23a and highlight or write down any of the attributes of the fruit of God’s Spirit you hope to see more of in your life.

Pray

Finish your quiet time by asking God to help you pay attention to the different ways the fruit of the Spirit shows up in you, others, and the world around you this week at BigStuf.