The Fruits Of the Spirit.

The Fruits of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control."

Why are these characteristics called the "Fruit of the Spirit?"  Why fruit? In Galatians 5:19 it talks about the "works of the flesh  and then goes on to talk about and refer to the Fruits of the Spirit.

When it comes to the flesh and all things classified as being from the flesh, these are things that we do. In order to commit adultery, we need to go out and have an affair. It is something that we purpose to do, and then go and do it. It is something that is done instantly.

How to grow the Fruits of the Spirit.

However, the fruits of the Spirit are not things that we can do instantly. In fact they are not things that that we can actually just purpose to do at all. These are things that slowly grow into our lives. They start off as the tree into which we are grafted (We are grafted intro Christ Jesus). The tree develops branches (us). Then the branch comes to life and starts to form little buds. The tree needs constant nourishment fed from the roots to the trunk and into the branches and eventually to the leaves and buds. This is the feeding off of the word of God through Christ Jesus.

At first, the little buds are hardly evident, but as the tree obtains more nutrition through to the buds, they start to grow into fruit. As time progresses the fruit gets bigger and bigger and then becomes fully ripe. The fruit is then the sweetest and most pleasant and refreshing of all the foods.

We need to take care of the fruit, lest insects and worms come and destroy the crop.

Such is the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. It is not there instantly, but the more we feed and obtain nutrition through the word of God and by drawing on Jesus Christ, the more the fruit of the Spirit will become evident in our lives. We need to nurture, feed and protect the fruit so that it may become ripened and sweet.

We need to protect the fruit against the swarms of insects and worms that will come to destroy the fruits. The best is to spray the fruit daily with the love of Jesus. This will protect the fruit from invasion. Water the fruit of the Spirit daily through the word of God.

Do this and soon you will have the most beautiful fruit growing, and many will come to your tree to feed from the fruit of the spirit.