FRUIT ANYONE?

 

JUNE 26, 2024

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

 

The fruit of the Spirit reading in Galatians 5:22-23 offers us tremendous hope for our lives. We read that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ...."  Don't you long to be a person full of love, joy, and peace? Don't you long to have patience, kindness, and goodness? Don't we all long to be known by faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Of course we do! These characteristics are the marks of a fully abundant life that Jesus promised to us. I see Jesus in these, do you? 

I find it is one thing to want something in my life, like these characteristics, but it is quite another thing to see these as a reality expressed in my actions and words. Truth is I all to aware of the fact that my life doesn't always line up with what God's Spirits desires to "birth" in me.  I imagine many of you are nodding in agreement to this, you too feel the distance between where you are and where you would like to be. Where God desires you to be.

 How can we live a life marked by these characteristics? How can we be people so Spirit-filled that our very being points to the Spirit of God dwelling in us?

These verses give us hope. We discover that God longs for us to understand by his grace, a life characterized by the fruit of the Spirit is entirely possible, but only by his grace. 

Left to my own devices, I am incapable of manifesting these qualities. On my own efforts, I tend to exhibit selfishness, laziness, and pride. “But with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). These characteristics, these fruits, are born out of the work of God in us. These Fruits of the Spirit come entirely by God’s grace. They are a gift!

So how do we allow the Holy Spirit to work at the core of our being and produce these fruits? Well, it comes from being connected to our source, there God plants seeds that grow within us. Seeds of  "Love Joy, Peace ........"As we spend time with God we begin to be transformed into his likeness. 

Ask the Holy Spirit to bear fruit in you today. Ask him to lead you to a lifestyle of love, joy, and peace. Ask him to fill you with patience, kindness, and goodness toward others and yourself. Ask him to make you a person marked by faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.