The Holy Spirit Is the Great Equalizer

God really set this up so perfectly.

It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor.
If you have a little or a lot.
Where you were born.
How you were raised.
What you look like.
What you’ve done in your past.

It doesn’t matter if you have influence or no influence.
If you’re crushing your goals or just trying to figure things out.
If you’re working your plan or feeling completely lost.

You could be a Bible scholar or only know a few Scriptures.
Leading a ministry or quietly sitting in the pew.

The Holy Spirit is the great equalizer

Because no matter how your life has shaped out, the real evidence of God’s power at work in you is the fruit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…”
Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

That’s the outward evidence of the inward work.

It’s the Spirit of the living God changing your heart, your responses, how you love people, how you handle pressure, how you move through life.

And I think that should take some of the pressure off.

Because maybe it matters less how impressive your life looks, and more who you are becoming.

Maybe it matters less how much you have accomplished, and more what kind of fruit your life is producing.

Because everything that looks like fruit is not good fruit.

Some of it is strange fruit.

And Galatians 5:22–23 gives us the standard for examining what our lives are producing.

Not success.

Not influence.

Not how gifted, knowledgeable or productive we appear to be.

The standard is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

These qualities will not be perfect in us, but there should be evidence that the Spirit is producing noticeable, continuing transformation as we abide in Christ.

Because this is not something we manufacture through effort. It is what grows from remaining connected to the Vine.

Jesus said, “Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

So the question is not whether we can point to a few good qualities in ourselves. People can be naturally kind, patient or disciplined without abiding in Christ.

The deeper question is whether we are becoming more like Christ over time. Are our hearts, responses and relationships being transformed as we walk with Him?

The growth may be gradual, and it will never be perfect, but there should be a marked difference. And if we can look back over time and see little evidence of continuing transformation, that should cause us to pause and ask: Are we truly abiding in Christ?