Last week’s sermon passage included the very famous ‘fruit of the Spirit’. While many Christians may be able to recite some or all of the fruit, there is much we may not know about this important topic.
To begin with, Gal 5:22 talks about the ‘fruit’, singular; not ‘fruits’, plural. This means Christians are not to cultivate only some of the fruit, like love, joy and peace; but all of them.
Second, it is the fruit ‘of the Spirit’. This means the Spirit must be instrumental in cultivating these characteristics in a Christian. If you are not familiar with the prayer of Eph 3:14-19, then I suggest committing it to memory. Christians need the Spirit’s ‘power’ to live by the Spirit.
Third, ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ is mentioned in the context of Paul calling the Galatians to ‘walk by the Spirit’ (Gal 5:16). Christians must work with the Holy Spirit in cultivating these qualities. This will not happen if Christians are gratifying the desires of the ‘flesh’ (sinful nature), as Gal 5:16 warns. We must flee sin and pursue godliness.
And fourthly, being a Christian means the Spirit resides within you. As such, every Christian has all the tools required to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. We CAN grow these virtues within us, with the Spirit’s help.
So may we grow our LOVE for God through the gospel; our JOY through delighting in Him; our PEACE through trusting his plans for us; our PATIENCE through lowering our demands on others; our KINDNESS through seeing Jesus’ undeserved kindness towards us; our GOODNESS through discarding hypocrisy; our FAITHFULNESS through following through on our word; our GENTLENESS through treating people better than they deserve; and our SELF-CONTROL through choosing the right thing as opposed to the expedient thing. Let us walk by the Spirit!
