*Photo by Al Elmes on Unsplash
**Friendly reminder that the views expressed on this website and within this post are mine and mine alone- this post does not reflect the views of Pastor Julia Pickerill or Vineyard Columbus.

I want to talk about something that might be sensitive for some readers, especially if you’ve experienced church hurt in the past. In fact, this topic is even really sensitive for myself.

Over the weekend I heard a sermon by pastor Julia Pickerill. Something she said was like an ‘aha’ moment to me, and it has been kicking around in my brain ever since. You can see that sermon here.

“Very often, particularly I think in the American church which is at least the church that I am putting a lot of my thought and attention to; We tend to value spiritual gifts over spiritual fruit. There’s a difference, right? We tend to value spiritual gifts- Somebody’s an amazing teacher or preacher. Somebody is praying and it feels really prophetic.. Some people prayed for someone and they actually got healed, that’s a spiritual gift! Spiritual fruit my friend’s is self control. Patience. Kindness. And very often what I see when these things get misused, they get misused because we got somebody whose got a whole lot of spiritual gifting and a whole little bit of spiritual fruit. They just gotta stay in the oven a little bit longer. It’s like they just gotta keep baking, its not done yet.”

– Pastor Julia Pickerill, Vineyard Columbus

The whole thing that has been stuck in my head is this idea of spiritual gifts being held as more important than spiritual fruit. As soon as Pastor Julia said this, a bunch of things started clicking in my head.

For context, I grew up in a pretty charismatic non-denominational church. We had people in our congregation who were recognized as prophets. We believed in the power of the Holy spirit showing up in the form of spontaneous healing, prophetic words, speaking in tongues, the casting out of demons and spirits, the gifting of spiritual sight, and quite a bit more. I grew up around these things and seeing these things was not out of the norm. Often times, when I think of spiritual giftings, these are the things that I think of.

I am also one of those people who have been hurt by others misusing or misunderstanding spiritual gifts, and some people in my life have straight up twisted and manipulated spiritual giftings as a means to an end when it comes to spiritual abuse. During a time when I was heavily deconstructing what I believed, I was not only extremely distrusting of people, but weary of anyone who used the terms “God is saying” or “God want’s you to know”. What started to happen is I went with my gut feeling on things and people, avoiding anything super charismatic unless I felt things checked out. In hindsight, the people that were trustworthy, the people who weren’t in it to use and abuse others, or to seek power, they all had something in common. Something I now can recognize as “Spiritual fruit”.

So… what is spiritual fruit? Galatians 5:22-23 tells us

“22 But the spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There are no laws against things like that.”– GODS WORD (GW version)


“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – New International Version (NIV)

This puts things in a different light. Somebody can be the best preacher, they can tell a good story or teach a great lesson… but are they like Jesus? Are they loving? Are they joyful? Is being in their presence peaceful? Are they patient with the people around them? What about people they don’t like? Are they kind? Are they full of goodness? Are they faithful? Are they gentle? Do they have self control?

And to an extent, it’s easy to look at others and ask if we see these things once we are made aware of what to look for… but what if we turn the mirror on ourselves?

“Am I like Jesus? Am I loving? Am I joyful? Do I bring or make peace wherever I go? Am I patient with my family, my kids, my students, my parents, the strangers making the grocery store line move real slow? Am I kind? Am I full of goodness? Am I faithful? Am I gentle? Do I have self control?”

Not only does spiritual fruit tell me that God is truly working here, but these are essential questions to my becoming, not only in my faith journey, but these things literally impact every other facet of my life. The call to follow Jesus, is a call to make more disciples and to commit to becoming ever more like Christ. And that feels like a tall order because it is. The good news is that Jesus doesn’t expect me to change completely overnight, but moment by moment. So I can ask, “Am I being loving in this moment? Am I exhibiting self control in this moment right now?” and that is progress.

The danger is in refusing to self reflect or choosing to over project what I want others to see. But the truth is, when it comes to what the bible calls “fruit of the spirit” or “spiritual nature”, projection really will only get us so far. I think some of us who were raised in church or at least American church culture, we’ve grown accustomed to calling spiritual giftings fruit. Its common for people to see things in charismatic spaces like the gifting of speaking in tongues or somebody being healed, or even the gift of prophecy, we see these things as evidence of someone’s spiritual life being productive, useful, great. Often things are said about people with spiritual giftings we like indicating that God must really be active in their life because of what God is using them for. Its in times like these it’s important to remember that David was heavily gifted, and yet he made some of the most outrageous mistakes in the whole Bible. When men weren’t listening to what God was trying to do, God spoke to them through a Donkey. God can and will give gifts to any and everyone. But spiritual gifts are meant to bear spiritual fruit.

Something Pastor Julia also mentioned is that whenever God gives gifts in the Bible, they aren’t meant for the benefit of the person receiving them. They are meant to be shared. A spiritual gift isn’t meant to call glory to the one who is gifted, it’s meant to help bring others closer to Christ.

The last thing I want to mention is that the Bible tells us what it looks like when you bear the opposite of spiritual fruit. Galatians 5:19-21 says:

“19 We all know the things our weak and broken human ways lead us to do, things such as walking in impure ways, giving in to dark desires, 20 following after spirit-images, and participating in witchcraft. Also hostile ways such as fighting, jealousy, lashing out in anger, arguing and making trouble, and dividing into opposing groups. 21 Our broken ways also lead us to want what belongs to others, to become drunks, and to participate in wild parties. It is things like this that I am warning you about. For I have already warned you that the ones who walk in these ways will not share in the blessings of Creator’s good road.”– First Nations Version (FNVNT)

“19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
– New International Verion (NIV)

Like the FNVNT version says, our weak and broken human ways can lead us to do some terrible things. Now, these verses aren’t a life sentence, they are a guide on this roadmap to becoming more like Jesus. These are things we will see when their is no spiritual fruit, or like Julia said- when we need a little bit longer in the oven. As we grow and change and live life through all of its crazy challenges, we aim to cultivate those fruits and use our giftings for making and encouraging other disciples. It doesn’t mean we won’t have a lapse in judgement or be able to completely turn our weaknesses and human ways completely off. It does mean that we will have to be intentional in our journey to become more like Christ though. We have to actively pursue these things. There is not one of us that will get it all right one hundred percent of the time, this is what we aim for and strive for. When we fall down, or notice someone else struggling, or notice someone else in danger of being misused and abused by a twisted and misunderstood version of spiritual giftings and spiritual fruits, we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and to help us to bear those spiritual fruits as we speak up or attempt to correct or assist.

What have you been taught about spiritual gifts?

What have you been taught about spiritual fruit?

Share your thoughts and comments below! I’d love to hear from you and engage in conversation around this.