Fertile ground

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23a

I recently learned of the linguistic connection between the words human, humility, and the Latin humus which means fertile ground.

This is an insightful correlation because we recognize from the Genesis creation narrative that we are made from the dust of the ground, but what is most intriguing to me is that we were never designed to be self-sufficient or self-centered, navigating life apart from our Creator. That is a deception of the enemy as illustrated in Genesis 3. It is as we understand who we truly are in relation to who God truly is that we become most fully aligned with our deepest and truest purpose—to humbly reside with God as His image bearers and co-creators, embodying and stewarding His likeness of love to the world.

Furthermore, as we embrace our truest humanity—characterized by humility—our lives become gardens that spring up with everlasting fruit. The fruit of the Spirit that Paul talks about in his letter to the Galatians becomes possible as we open our hearts to receive the seeds that the Giver longs to plant deep within our souls. We cannot receive these seeds if we don’t have the humility to recognize the fundamental truths that the universe does not revolve around us, we are not our own, and we need God. Once we acknowledge these realities, fertile ground begins to emerge in our hearts. It is soil nourished by the love and grace of God, made ready to receive what He desires to plant and produce in and through us.

Finally, we can look to Jesus as the perfect human and standard of humility:

“... Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8)

Ultimately, our lives humbly hidden in Christ raise us to the standard by which we were designed to flourish as humans, cultivating fruit that will last for the sake of the Kingdom coming on earth as it is in Heaven.

~em

Social media photo credit: Sorin Gheorghita on Unsplash