The Fruit of the Holy Spirit - Pt. 1

 

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:18-26 ESV).

 

We are continuing in our look at the celebration of Pentecost with a deeper dive into the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It stands to reason that if we are given the presence of God in the Holy Spirit we ought to be able to expect the production of a change of mind and heart resulting in a change in behavior. The Apostle Paul in our reading today writes just that. He lists these as: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (vv. 22-23).

 

Before we get to each of these, let me encourage you with two thoughts. First, while they are given to us by the Holy Spirit, there is a part we have to play in the development of their use in our lives. Like any other “fruit” the quality and abundance of fruit is determined by the care we take of the tree. Our over-the-fence neighbor has a peach tree at the back of their property not far from our fence line. In the nine seasons since we have been here I’ve watched it continue to bear fruit though each year the quality of the fruit has become less desirable and fewer. The tree has never been pruned or fertilized. It simply hasn’t developed. The peaches it produces are very small and never harvested. Our neighbors are just not interested in it. The same is true of our spiritual fruit. Second, the best way to develop good spiritual fruit is through prayer, study of the Scripture, and meditation. It requires intentionality and discipline, but the results are wonderful.

 

As we go forward, commit yourself to the development and use of the fruit given to you. It will benefit you and others enormously!