Look at the Fruit

Imagine you have two seeds in your hand, but you can only plant one...

One seed grows easily, but it produces ugly, terrible tasting fruit. Cultivating the other seed takes time and consistent attention—but the fruit it produces is beautiful and delicious.

Which seed would you choose to plant, water, and grow? 

In Galatians 5, the apostle Paul talks about two types of fruit that our lives can produce: fruit of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit.

“The flesh” refers to our unchecked desires that pull us away from God’s Spirit. Those desires produce hate, impatience, bitterness, selfishness, chaos, anxiety, and self-indulgence—and God has no association with such things.

But when we commit our lives to Jesus, He gives us His own Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit helps us “crucify” the desires of our flesh and put them to death. And when we crucify those desires, we create room for the Holy Spirit to produce good fruit in our lives—fruit that leads to positive changes.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” 
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV

Our flesh wants to get even, but the Spirit calls us to extend kindness. Our flesh wants to entertain sinful thoughts, but the Spirit calls us to walk in self-control. Our flesh wants to dictate our emotional response, but the Spirit calls us to walk in joy and peace.

The fruits of the Spirit reveal that we are actively seeking God and rejecting disobedience.  

So right now, reflect on your life. What kind of fruit are you producing? Are you experiencing love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, and self-control—or are there pockets of bitterness, anger, jealousy, and self-indulgence in your life? What steps do you need to take to “crucify” the things that are pulling you away from God?

Let the Holy Spirit show you what you need to remove, and then allow Him to transform your heart and your actions. With His help, you can cultivate and produce good, life-giving fruit.