Where’s Your Fruit?
By Lisa Boyer
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23b
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23b
There are a few days in the winter that can be considered truly beautiful. One would be a snowy day when we get to watch from the windows of our warm homes. Another would be a day when the trees are covered with a white frozen mist as though straight off a greeting card.
Traveling down the road, I can’t help but look intently at each and every tree, fascinated by how a little white can transform the barren branches into such a beautiful sight. Then I see it, an apple tree. No, I’m not the type of person who can identify a tree, especially in winter, but this is an apple tree. I know, because it still has its apples! And not just one or two, nearly all of them are clinging to its otherwise barren branches. It’s extraordinary. The tree surrendered every one of its brown withered leaves, but it stands there clinging to its fruit.
How much are we like that tree? Have we surrendered our all to God, or just our leaves, the parts of our life that seem worthless and dead? Do we hold on to the fruit because we sense its value and we believe we can still work with it ourselves and don’t need God?
That tree was to have surrendered everything…its leaves and fruit. What good is fruit if it doesn’t fall from the tree? How many deer may have come and stood under this tree on a cold winter day waiting for an apple to fall so they could be nourished? In the same way, what good is fruit in our lives if we don’t surrender it and let it fall gracefully onto those around us?
One of the purposes of the fruit in our lives is to feed and nourish the faith of others. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are all powerful fruit that transform lives because they are the fruit of the very Spirit of God in our hearts.
GOING DEEPER: 1. What kind of fruit has the Spirit grown in your life? Who have you been nourishing with that fruit?
FURTHER READING: Proverbs 11:30; Matthew 7:16
Lisa is a wife and mother of two. She is a co-leader for Junior High girls' small group.
