“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”Galatians 5:22
You wouldn’t buy an artificial grapevine from Hobby Lobby and hope it produces real fruit as it decorates your kitchen window. Putting plastic grapes in a fruit salad doesn’t make them edible. Hearing a sermon about the fruit of the Spirit and willing yourself to work harder to be joyful or forcing yourself to be patient doesn’t produce the kind of fruit Galatians 5:22 is referring to.
Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
We cannot develop this fruit, these qualities in ourselves on our own. The Holy Spirit does that work, but we do partner with Him. We can choose to walk with Jesus, staying connected to Him through His Word, guiding our thoughts back to Him throughout our day.
If we are honest, there are times in life when walking with Jesus can sound burdensome; after all, weeding and pruning may be involved. But as we connect with Jesus, we experience His heart and find our hearts changed by:
- His unconditional love
- His strength-giving joy
- His peace that calms our hearts despite the chaos of our circumstances
- His profound patience in our weakness
- His gentleness in guiding us
- His heart of kindness toward us
- His goodness and mercy
- His faithfulness in every situation
- His self-control … Jesus could have walked away from the cross, but instead, He put one foot in front of the other and gave His life so that we could live forever, forgiven and blessed, in a relationship with Him.
Spend time walking with Jesus, knowing Him more, and watch spiritual fruit in your own life abound! If you want to know more about starting a relationship with Jesus, text the word LIFE to 41224.