But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25
If you have been a Christian for any amount of time these verses will be very familiar to you. And if you are like me, it is easy to fall into this mindset that the fruit of the Spirit is some Christian check list of virtues that I have to work on in order be more acceptable as a Christian.
This is actually a wrong way of looking at these verses. The virtues that are listed are virtues that we already possess. The fruit of the Spirit is manifested in the life of every believer to some degree. Sure they may seem a bit weak at times, but if you have the Spirit dwelling in you then you also have the fruit of the Spirit as well.
If we were perfect, these fruit would be perfectly displayed in our lives. But we are not perfect. Not yet. And so these virtues are also not perfect in us. But there is a way for us to grow and to mature as a Christian and when we do, the fruit of Spirit shine brighter and are more visible in our lives.
How to Grow in the Fruit of The Spirit
It all begins with a vine. Do you remember the passage in John 15 where Jesus says “I am the true vine”? He goes on to say, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:4-5).
The quality of our fruit is directly connected to how closely we are connected to Jesus, the vine.
If we are barely hanging on, if our connection to Jesus is weak, if we are not feeding on the word of God and having communion with Jesus through prayer, then our fruit will be small.
If, on the other hand, we understand that Christ is a perfect branch, without any defeat or weakness, and we attach ourselves as closely as we can to him, then we will not only bear fruit, but “much fruit” (Jn 15:5).
I know that there are days when we feel that the fruit of the Spirit is barely visible. We feel weak or unproductive and believe that we will never change or grow. Don’t fall for this lie! Gal. 5:25 reminds us that we have been crucified with Christ! Our old self – our sinful nature – has been put to death. We have been made new! And while sin still clings to us, it no longer has power over us. We are overcomers because of the death of Christ and we can grow in the fruit of the Spirit because the resurrecting power of Jesus works mightily in those who cling to him.
Looking to Jesus,
Stay tuned for our the revealing of our NEXT study!!!!! Can’t wait to share it with you!!!! We have one more week in Galatians! Let’s finish strong!!!
I’ve read these verses for many years and thought, “Wow, I wish I had patience, gentleness, and self-control.” Never once has it crossed my mind that I posses all of these fruits because of the Spirit dwelling within me. Thank you so much for pointing that out! We tend to focus on what we think we don’t have and fail to realize all that we have because of Jesus…and all that we can accomplish by staying close to Him. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this study and can’t wait to see where we are heading next!
Audra,
This post hit me as well today. What freedom we have in Christ and wow to think about what we actually have in Christ. Thank you for joining us and we look forward to having you with us in the next study! (Jennifer, LGG Encourager)
How awesome it is to realize all of the many gifts that God has bestowed upon us and in us as His beloved children! How can we not be beautiful shining examples of Christ each and every waking hour?
My eyes are open, my heart is full, God’s Word is carved in heart and mind – what joy!!!
Thank you, LGG, for this wonderful study of Galatians! Looking forward to the next one, as always.
I couldn’t have said it better myself…so I’ll just say, Amen to that!
Thank you for helping us to see the Truth that the Fruit of the Spirit is NOT yet another ‘checklist’ to show where we have failed but rather shows what we already are and have in Him! Just one more living proof of our precious freedom in Him! Thank You, Jesus, and thank you LGG for encouraging our hearts every day and pressing us on to become who He created us to be.
Joan,
Thank you for your sweet comment. You are so right it is just more proof for our freedom and that we serve an awesome God who loves us. Thank you for studying with us and we are very excited for the next study. (Jennifer, LGG Encourager)
Thanks so much for sharing, Jen.
I so often fall into the trap of believing the lie that I have no fruit, but thank God His word is truth.
Reading those verse again and your encouraging words gave me confirmation.
God bless
How comforting it is to know that in any situation, I can “check out ” and let the Spirit take over. When we are in the Lord & His presence envelopes us we truly become a new creature in Christ, and His presence is so evident in the way we interact wiyh each other. Thank God we can shake off these old “chains” of sin & replace them with our cloaks of righteousness,
I have been in seasons where I’ve produced little fruit through the “doings” of my life, and other seasons where I bear much fruit and it is so true that it is directly related to the vine I’m attaching myself too. Sometimes I start to attach myself to unhealthy vines which produce greed, pride, or impatience. Those are the times when I’ve usually been drawing away from the true vine bearer of good fruit, the vine of Jesus. I pray I will always be checking myself to see which vine I’m attached to, the vine of the world the enemy has reign over or the vine of the One true King and Lord of Lords over my life. Blessings! XOXO
Excerpt from Andrew Murray:
To be delivered from flesh was to give it to death as an accursed thing. Look upon the flesh as God does, accept the death warrant the cross brings to everything in me that is of the flesh. I tremble at the thought of allowing the flesh, my natural mind and will, to usurp the place of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit meets the need and provision to take, entirely, the place which the flesh once had, day by day to glory in the cross. By it, I have been crucified to the world.
Oh! give me grace day by day greatly to reverence You, lest I allow the flesh to intrude into the work of the Spirit, and to grieve Him. And teach me that the Holy Spirit had indeed been given to be the life of my life, and to fill my whole being with the power of the death and the life of my blessed Lord living in me. I consent to live as a crucified one. I trust in You to keep me this day walking and living through the Spirit.
Woohoo! I love Andrew Murray! Thank you for sharing this, Sue! 🙂