The Spirit and His Fruit

Jesus strongly encouraged His followers to check the spiritual fruit of those who seek to lead in spiritual matters. He counseled the disciples to beware of sheep in wolves clothing. He knew that the good or bad fruit of those wolves would reveal who they really were. While we are not judges, we are good fruit inspectors.

That’s not the only teaching about fruit in the Scripture.

Paul also talked about fruit. He told the churches in Galatia that the Spirit of Jesus within them would bear fruit as well. The very nature of the fruit would show that the Spirit and His fruit were good. After all, no one would ever pass a law against such wonderful qualities.

Paul said that the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life would usher in the same qualities which were evident in Jesus during His earthly ministry. “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things” (Galatians 5:22-23).

In case there is any question about the beauty and value of the Spirit’s fruit, notice the opposite, that is, the works of the flesh. The works of our sinful nature produce heartache, pain, dysfunction of every kind, and soured relationships. These are evil works. “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impiety, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21).

We and Paul might ask, who in his right mind would deliberately choose the works of the flesh over the fruit of the Spirit. Unfortunately, our sinful natures lead us away from the Spirit and toward destructive and evil actions. Men hate the light because their deeds are evil.

This is good news: “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). He concluded by encouraging them to live by the Spirit and be guided by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25).

What a joy to have the Spirit of Jesus with us. His Spirit at work within us will produce wonderful fruit in our lives and it will bless others.

I thank God for the gift of His Spirit.

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One Response

  1. I always thought that the gifts of the Holy Spirit was what you just referred to as the “fruits” of the spirit. You taught us Wednesday night that the gift of the Holy Spirit IS the Holy Spirit. It took a little effort to absorb but it is a wonderful gift indeed. Thank You for sharing!

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