“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Our lives produce fruit by which we may either bless others or hurt them. We could wait until someone else acts as a “fruit inspector” and levels with us about the quality of the actions and attitudes we produce … or we could decide to look within ourselves and ask God if our fruit is wholesome and effective to touch and bless the lives of others.
For myself, I can read through that list of 9 characteristics and pretty quickly tell you which ones I am producing well, and which ones I am struggling with. How about you? Take a moment to read the list. What are your thoughts?
Jesus once commented about how to detect sincerity and godliness versus deception and dishonesty. “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:16-17)
Lest you be concerned that you might be stuck as a bad tree, consider this. In the biological world, a plant is what it is. A thorn bush can’t become a grape vine. But in the Kingdom/spiritual sense, God can take the old nature of a person and make it new. In other words, we were all born weeds (tainted by sin), but we can be born again, as a wheat. We may have produced bad fruit in the past, but God can transform us, and we will begin to grow good fruit … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Apple trees don’t have to make a concerted effort to grow apples. They grow them because that is the kind of tree they are. You and I can try all we want to grow certain kinds of fruit, but it is of no eternal benefit unless we begin by allowing God through salvation to give us a new nature. Then comes the fruit. The fruit is not a result of what we try to do, it is a result of who we are in Christ.
That doesn’t mean we don’t have to make an effort. After all we are actually people, not trees. We have choices, trees don’t. This leaves us with a mysterious combination of genuinely producing good fruit because God has heard our humble request to be reborn and has made us into a good tree, but also refining what we produce based on our tendency to stray from God’s purposes. God’s grace and our efforts work together, and by far the greater of these two influences is God’s grace!
The people around you observe and know you by your fruit.
Blessings,
Chaplain Mark