Galatians 5:22 (NLT) But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.
The fruits of the Spirit are a package deal – it is not like a beautifully displayed fruit tray where you pick your favorite and leave the rest. Can we express love without the rest of the fruits? Can we really be gentle if we don’t maintain self-control? Can we show kindness if we have no patience or peace? How can we live in the joy of the Lord if the other fruits are absent? If we find ourselves lacking in one of the fruits…chances are we are deficient in them all. For the sake of desiring our lives to flourish as a healthy orchard, let’s look at the fruits of the Spirit as a whole package.
My mother-in-law loved fruit trees and had a yard filled with several kinds, but her favorite were her peach trees. She took great care to make sure they had all they needed to produce the best peaches. She watered, fertilized, pruned, and picked the ripe peaches at just the right time. It was a full-time job to keep the trees healthy and producing. At times the task was just too much for her alone and she had to ask for help. Her family and friends reaped the benefits every year as she shared the delicious fruit. Not only did she share her fresh peaches but she would make pies and cobblers to freeze, can the peaches, dehydrate the peaches, and store them with care to last her family until time for the next harvest.
In contrast to the trees of my mother-in-law, let’s think of three other situations we have all seen with fruit trees….
- A fruit tree that fails to produce any fruit at all.
- A tree that produces fruit but it doesn’t make it to the ripened stage.
- A tree that produces good fruit but it’s fruit rots on the branches.
This is the truth with our spiritual fruit as well.
- We can be Christians and not produce fruit.
- We may be producing some fruit but it isn’t making it to the ripened stage.
- The fruit is there but we are not sharing it with others – therefore it rots and isn’t beneficial for the Kingdom.
If we want our lives to produce healthy and beneficial fruit, we have to put in the work. We must be willing to tend to our hearts in order for the fruits of the Spirit to grow and ripen and be useful for the Kingdom.
- Watering our hearts with prayer can strengthen the roots of our faith to get the nutrients we need to produce the fruits of the Spirit.
- Applying God’s Word to our lives as fertilizer is the added boost of promises and assurances we can rely on when the storms of life come.
- Allowing the Holy Spirit to prune away the things that can cause us to stumble will leave room for healthy fruit to flourish.
- Asking for help! There will be times that this walk is too much for us to bear alone. Look for healthy Christians that are producing fruit like you would like to see in your own life and ask them for help.
- Sharing our fruit with those around us is the key to building the Kingdom of God. IT IS FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE WE WERE CREATED!
We want to thank Jill Winders for sharing this post.
Women's Ministry 