I love summertime! There is so much to enjoy in the summer, but one of the things I enjoy the most about living in the Pacific Northwest is the bounty of berries and fruits that we get to enjoy. My kids enjoy snacking on blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and watermelon! We wait all year long to be able to enjoy the harvest of these fruits. I’d like to say that I have something to do with the production of these amazing fruits but to be honest, we just get to enjoy them.
In Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT), it says “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
As Christians, we have the amazing privilege of having God’s spirit living within us. But more often than I care to admit, I forget that. I’ll read a passage like this one in Galatians and see it as a to-do list that is somehow up to me. I end up thinking that if I’m a good Christian, then I better make sure I’m loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind all the time, be good and faithful and gentle in all things and of course control myself above all else. That is definitely a high calling! The problem isn’t in striving for these things, it is in the perception that we have to produce these fruits ourselves–that we somehow have to make ourselves be like this all the time, even if we have to fake it to make it. Have you ever felt like this?
Trying to produce these fruits of the Spirit of our own will, power, and strength will leave us feeling exhausted before we even get started. The key is to notice who is supposed to produce the fruit in our lives–it is the Holy Spirit. It isn’t up to us because it’s not our job to produce the fruit. Our job is to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work within us. As we yield to the Spirit’s work within us, He produces the beautiful fruits of the Spirit. They are evidence of the Holy Spirit at work within us! The great thing about the fruit the Spirit produces is that it isn’t just for our enjoyment but to bless those around us as well.
I don’t know about you, but I find some relief in the idea that it’s not all up to me. Because honestly, there are times when I really struggle with some of these, especially when it comes to patience and self-control! Anyone else? 😀
In the same way fruit doesn’t make itself but is produced by a tree, neither can we be filled with joy and love and peace unless the Spirit produces it. So you may be asking, if it’s not our job to produce the fruit in our lives, how do we let the Spirit lead us and transform us into people who display these fruits of the Spirit in our lives?
Our job is to be the soil, a place for the Spirit to dwell. Our job is to nurture and allow God’s spirit to do its work within us, making us into people who are full of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In order for this work to happen, we must remain in God, our source of life.
John 15:4 says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
As we spend time with God, in His Word, in times of prayer and time spent with His people in worship, we create the rich soil that allows the Holy Spirit to transform us to look more like God. To display His love, His peace, His joy, His patience, His goodness, His faithfulness, His gentleness and His self-discipline in our lives and to the world around us.
So next time you are reaching and striving for a little more peace, or to be filled with joy, or to feel a little more patient, lean into God a little bit more. He has a never-ending supply of these fruits of the Spirit and He withholds no good thing from us. It is always His joy to produce these fruits in our lives if only we ask and allow Him to work within our hearts. Like all good fruit, it sometimes takes time to grow but the more we remain in God, the richer the harvest will be in our lives.
