The Fruit of the Spirit

One of the most important things that God has taught me is the importance of bearing good fruit as a woman of God. After committing my life to the Lord, God began a work in me. He made me a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17), and He started to renew my mind and change my life in beautiful ways. Slowly but surely, the Lord was designing me to be the woman I was meant to be in Jesus Christ, and I know that the Lord will continue His work in me for the rest of my life here on earth, until He has completed His work within me (Philippians 1:6). Making a choice to live for God was not and is not always easy. In the beginning I had to choose to live my life by the Spirit, instead of by my flesh or my sinful nature. This is a choice I still have to make daily, and it is a choice I will have to make for the rest of my life. As followers of Jesus Christ, all of us choose daily to live by the Spirit or to live by our flesh. In order to live by the Spirit, we need to choose to bear good fruit and not obey our sinful desires.

If we take a look at the Old and New Testament, we will see how important bearing “fruit” is to God. In Genesis, we see the importance to God of bearing physical fruit. God command Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:22; 28), Noah and his sons (Genesis 9:1; 7), and Abraham (Genesis 17:6) to be fruitful and multiply. In other books of the Bible we see the importance to God of bearing spiritual fruit. Psalm 1:3 says that a righteous person is blessed for bearing good fruit. “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers (Psalm 1:3).” In Isaiah 17:8 we also read that the righteous “will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Psalm 92:14 says that the righteous will even continue to bear good fruit in old age, and Psalm 128:2 says that the righteous will eat the fruit of their labor, which consists of blessings and prosperity. Isaiah 3:10 encourages believers by saying, “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.” On the other hand, the unrighteous will also eat of the fruit of their ways, but will “be filled with the fruit of their schemes (Psalm 1:31),” which will be the wickedness that they have sown. In Proverbs we see that “the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life (Proverbs 11:30).” We also see the importance of our words. We can bear good or bad fruit with our words. Proverbs 12:14 and Proverbs 13:2 say that “from the fruit of his lips a man is filled with/enjoys good things,” because “from the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled (Proverbs 18:20).” Proverbs 18:21 also shows the power of our words by explaining that we have the ability to create life or death with what we say. “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21).”

Jesus preached on the importance of being one with Him and bearing good fruit for God. He also told us that believers and nonbelievers will be easily identified by the fruit that they bear. In Matthew 7:17-20 Jesus said, “every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” In Matthew 12:33, Jesus stresses again that people will be recognized by the fruit that they bear. In Matthew 3:8 and Luke 3:8, John the Baptist cried out to the people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” It is obvious that if we are believers, then the fruit that we bear will show others if we have repented from the life that we once lived in sin. Both Jesus and John the Baptist warned people that if they were not bearing fruit for God, then they would not end up in Heaven at the end of this life on earth (Matthew 7:19; Luke 3:9).

Before a Christian becomes a Christian, he or she will not bear good fruit, because he or she does not know Jesus. In John 15:1-8, Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

What is the fruit of the Spirit? What did John the Baptist mean when he urged us to produce the fruit of repentance? Galatians 5 shows us what type of fruit we should bear as followers of Jesus Christ. In order to know what type of fruit we should bear, it is first important to know that we shouldn’t bear bad fruit. That sounds simple enough, but what is bad fruit? Bad fruit is the fruit that is born from the sinful nature, and it consists of whatever is contrary to the Spirit. Galatians 5:17 says, “the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.” In Galatians 5:19-21, we are able to see what the acts of the sinful nature are. “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).” Does this mean that if we sin, then we aren’t saved? Of course not! It is impossible to live a sin free life. Jesus was the only One ever worthy enough to live a sinless life. It is not a matter of if we sin or not. It is a matter of what we choose to do after we sin. When we sin we should confess our sin to God, ask Him for forgiveness, then repent of (turn away from) that sin. It is when people dedicate their lives to sin that is becomes abundantly clear that they are not living for Jesus and they are not producing the fruit of repentance.

In order to bear good fruit Galatians 5:16 tells us, “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” If we want to live by the Spirit then we have to make the effort to fellowship with God daily through prayer and reading His Word. We have to die to ourselves on a daily basis and make a choice to obey God’s commands to us. Galatians 5:24 says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” Do a daily check and ask yourself, “am I living by the Spirit or am I living by my flesh?” You will know the answer depending on the fruit that you are bearing. In Galatians 5:19-21 we see what it means to walk in the flesh and bear its fruit, but in Galatians 5:22-23 we see what it means to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Over the next few days we will take a look at the fruit of the Spirit and how we can bear good fruit for the Lord.