Fruits of the Spirit

"A perfect man would not consider it a duty to be good, but a pleasure."


I have been reading samples of some of John Pipers book at his site desiringgod.org

So far, he has described my experience of God revealing Himself to me and finding my joy in Him, rather than sin. And from that taste I had of God, it kept my seeking Him. That was my repentance. I gave up sin because I found a new and better way to have joy. I never understood how people could love God and hate sin, until He let me taste the joy that comes from being in His presence and seeing Him clearly. I don't think I say that to be prideful, because I didn't "find God". He found me. Ever since He gave me that taste of Himself, I searched for Him which eventually lead to a knowledge of Jesus Christ and what He did by Him dying on a cross and being raised from the dead on the third day. And here I am now...My job is to strive to see God clearly and to know Him. To know Him is to love Him. Seeing God's beauty creates faith, love, joy, boldness, zeal and repentance. These are fruits of the Spirit. I'm learning that seeking to have faith in God is wrong. Seeking to love God is also wrong. Looking to love other people is wrong. We don't look for faith, love and good works. We look for God and then faith, love and good works come out. I'm only writing this to get a clearer understanding of what I'm learning and hopefully someone will read it and understand and look for God for themselves.

Anyway, this part of the book is what lead me to that conclusion:


God will be glorified both by the intensity of the present delight
that we have in his beauty and by the intensity of the desires we have
for more revelation of his fullness. The present pleasures will waken
ever fresh desires, and the desires will signal ever greater future pleasures.
Pleasures will be perfectly desired, and the desires will be perfectly
pleasant.
What we experience here in this fallen age is a partial reflection of
that. This is what we are moving toward. It is not yet here. We know
that all too painfully. But our calling here is to fight for joy—ours and
the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. The aim is that God’s
worth—his infinite desirability—be known and prized and praised in all
the world. This is what we mean by God being glorified. He is most glorified
in and through his people when we are most satisfied in him. The
intensity of our pleasure and our desire bear witness of his worth to the
world, especially when we are freed by this (present and hoped for) pleasure
to leave the pleasures of this world for a life of sacrifice and love
for others.