The Fruit of the Spirit--"Fruit" --Day 2

 

Galatians 5:16-26  contrasts "works of the flesh" and "fruit of the Spirit".  The flesh, the sinful nature that every human has inherited, longs to carry out sinful acts.  Jesus uses the analogy of a vine bearing fruit to explain His relationship with God and with His people in John 15.  When we are nudged toward repentance by the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls our acceptance "bearing fruit" in Matthew 3.  The apostle Paul refers to the fruit that comes from our Spirit-driven life as "fruit of light" in Ephesians; and the works of the flesh as "unfruitful works of darkness".  The Psalmist compares a man (or woman, obviously) who avoids the darkness and walks in the Light as a tree planted by streams of water, bearing fruit at exactly the right time. 

We've lived in our house for 4.5 years.  We have a plum tree, and this is the first year we've had plums.  Mike knew it was a plum tree, but I sure didn't.  Do you know why I didn't know?  Because there were no plums on it.  😅 And that's how it's intended to be.  Matthew 7 says we will recognize a tree by the fruit it produces.  A healthy tree bears healthy fruit and a diseased tree bears rotten fruit.  Jesus Himself makes the connection for us.  When we walk in the Spirit, we WILL bear healthy, good fruit.  We will.  It's a promise, signed and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.  If we don't walk in the Spirit, we won't.  We are unable to buckle down, set our mind to being good, and force fruit to appear.  We may be able to bloom and look nice, but we do not have it in us to bear fruit on our own.  We have to have a stable, trustworthy vine.  And we do.  Jesus is our vine, and God is in charge of the whole garden. 

 An apple cannot come from a plum tree.  A plum tree is genetically programmed to produce plums.  That's it.  Our sinful nature is genetically programmed to produce sinful deeds.  We inherited it from the sin in the Garden of Eden, and we have carried on the family tradition.  But the Holy Spirit rewrites our spiritual DNA.  He plants us beside streams of Living Water so that we can yield good fruit at exactly the right time.  I pray that we will be like the tree in Isaiah 37:31 and grow roots downward and bear fruit upward.  For our good, for the good of those we influence, and for God's glory.