Fruit of the Spirit

Happy Sunday,

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.”

Galatians 5:22-23

How can you tell if you're consuming too much news?
In 2017, I intentionally increased my news consumption.

I was starting grad school, and it felt like the adult thing to do to know what was happening in the world. So, I downloaded a bunch of news apps (and enabled push notifications), spent my spare time scrolling headlines, and added a couple of news podcasts to my morning routine.

Honestly… I loved it. I could participate in conversations better, understand references better, and people thought I was wiser and more handsome (probably), etc.

Then, I got into an argument. 

I don’t remember who it was with, but I do remember that we had conflicting opinions on gun ownership (despite neither of us owning a gun). I also remember thinking that person—a fellow believer whom I’d just met—was stupid, rude, judgmental, and probably didn’t actually know or love Jesus. 

It didn’t take long for conviction to set in. I was reading Galatians 5, and something finally clicked: the fruit of the Spirit isn’t a list of things I should do; it is the fruit produced when the Holy Spirit is present. All of the attributes at once—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—naturally, unavoidably, grow out of people close to God and full of his Spirit. 

And, since consuming more news, the opposite had begun growing out of me. In that argument, I was impatient, rude, harsh, and impulsive. Beyond that argument, I was growing to hate certain people (but, you know, the bad ones) and was more anxious/fearful for the future.

I liked consuming the news and felt like I was forming good, Christ-like views on things, but it was obvious that consuming more news was not making me more like Christ. It was not drawing me closer to God; if it had been, the fruit would’ve been different.

Here’s your homework: Evaluate your news consumption based on the fruit of the Spirit. Write out each aspect and its opposite (e.g., love/hate, peace/anxiety), circling which one is more present as you consume the news. Then—and this is the important part—if the news is producing more anti-fruit than fruit… cut back on the news.

What do you think?
Jason

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