Sweet treats

Spring’s first strawberries to hit stores are hard to resist—big, plump, appealing to winter-starved tasted buds. But usually something is missing: true flavor. Those early Goliaths, probably forced in greenhouses, simply taste flat. So this year, when my husband brought home some clearance strawberry plants, I was eager to plant them for real taste.  My usual planting spot now ant-ridden, I decided to put these in pots in another part of the yard.  When the first ones reddened, ah…there is nothing like a tiny, vine-ripened strawberry.

The deliciousness of true fruit is aptly used in the Bible’s analogy of the “fruit of the spirit.”  Probably best known is Paul’s Galatians 5:22-23 list of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

But I wonder if it’s easy to get stuck in familiar lists. Wherever the Bible talks about good character, those all are “fruits” of a life connected to God. Proverbs, for example, is plum (pun intended) full of observations of good (and bad) character. But one list I’ve been drawn to lately is in Peter’s second letter, where he talks about progressive holy character.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.(2 Peter 1:5-8)

Consider how Eugene Peterson paraphrased the same passage in The Message:

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, completing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.

Time—and the nourishment of soil, water, and sun—produce the sweetest strawberries, So, too, our faith. We need time on the divine “Vine”—staying connected to Jesus—to offer a sweet “taste” of Him to the world.

Some people read Psalm 34:8 (“O taste and see that the LORD is good” ) and think of workers in food warehouse stores, white mesh nets over their hair, standing at promotion carts with little taste-cups of featured food. One way non-Christians get “tastes” of God is through the lives of believers who are manifesting godly traits like “reverent wonder” and “generous love.” All the more reason to “ripen” with godly character, such as those character qualities in lists like the apostle Peter’s.

In the meantime, anybody for a bowl of cereal with a just-picked ruby prize?  There might be enough for two in my backyard pots.