But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
Video here, and/or read on:
You can’t manufacture fruit. If you try, the fruit will be inedible. Fruit must be organically grown.
I notice that this is the fruit of the Spirit. It isn’t the fruit of my efforts. It isn’t. Stop and think about that.
This isn’t the fruit of “three easy steps to joy.” No. It’s the fruit of the Spirit. It isn’t the fruit of my hard work, my being good, my trying harder.
If we lack love, joy, peace, and all the rest, we don’t NEED love, joy, peace, and so on. We NEED the Spirit. We need God. We invite Jesus into our lack, and there the fruit grows.
One more thought: Fruit doesn’t just pop out on the branches the first day of spring. It grows over time. In the same way, the fruit of the Spirit will grow in our lives over time if we continue to make room for Jesus.
Dwight
PS. How do you overcome temptation? Why are we tested, and what strategy can we use to overcome those tests? Why do we sin? Are we doomed to sin because we’re sinners and we have a sin nature? How do we find God’s grace to overcome sin? That’s our Inner Wealth topic starting 5/11/2019.
