Fruit Of The Spirit

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

There has always been something I found rather intriguing about these two verses. In fact, there is just one word in these verses that seems to catch my attention every time I read them, and that is the word “fruit.” I want us to notice something here. These verses do not say “fruits of the spirit.” They say “fruit”. It is a singular word. In other words, we can not pick and choose which ones we want and which ones we don’t want. God did not give us a fruit bar here. The word fruit is a singular word because love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control all comes from the spirit of God as one gift. Let me explain what I mean by giving you a math lesson to illustrate my point. Let’s think back to elementary school when we were all introduced to a circle graph. When all of the fruit is living and active in our lives we have a whole graph, all put together nice and neat. But when we try to pull out one section of the circle graph, or one of the “fruits,” our circle graph  is no longer complete, it is missing a section. In other words the fruit of the spirit is designed to work and function as a whole. We are to have all of these things working and functioning in our lives not just the ones we like while ignoring the rest.

A delicate balance

How often do we miss the mark in keeping each one of these areas working in our lives in such a way that we don’t end up with a piece of our circle graph running on empty? I personally, I feel like it is a constant battle to keep certain areas in check. It feels like a day will not go by without me running to the feet of Jesus and asking for a in pouring of at least one of these areas, if not several on any given day. If you are anything like me you will know just how overwhelming it is to make sure the circle graph stays filled up in each area. In fact, without the help of the Lord it really is an impossible task.

A recent experience at youth camp helped me to see that we all struggle with this delicate balance of the fruit of the spirit in our lives. I had the opportunity to be a counselor at a Christian youth camp this past summer. All of the campers who attended had been raised in the church and were at least exposed to scriptures like this one on a regular basis. On several occasions I had to correct inappropriate behavior and I found it most beneficial to correct them with the word of God. I would ask them to list for me the fruit of the spirit. Once they got through listing out each one, I would ask them how their behavior lined up with this fruit that God expected of them. Not one of them could say that their behavior was what God was expecting. So from there we discussed what would have been the better action in order to make sure it looked more like the fruit that God had intended to be flowing out of His children. I would conclude the conversations with asking them what they needed to do in order to make the situation right. With each camper I happened to have to this particular conversation with I could literally see the spirit of God bring conviction to their hearts. It was such a privilege to watch God’s word working so deeply in the hearts of these young people.

Possible only with God

I have shared these examples of myself and of these campers to show that the fruit of the spirit can not be managed in one way only.

But Jesus himself said…

“...with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

Yes, ALL things are possible with the Lord, including this delicate balance of the fruit of the spirit! I am so thankful that Jesus is willing to help me with this load. The Lord is more than willing to help you with this delicate balance in managing the fruit of the spirit in your life as well. I know that I surely could not manage this intricate juggling act my own. It is only possible with the continuous help of the Holy Spirit at work in my heart and mind.

Father, I thank you that you are the great manager. I thank you that you are able to balance and juggle the things we can not. I thank you that in those moments when we feel like we are going to drop all of the fruit, that you will be an ever present help in our time of need. Your word promises to be right there to help us. Thank you for your fruit. Thank you that we can have tangible evidence of your spirit working and moving in our lives. Thank you that others will be able to see your fruit in our lives and know that it is not coming from us. We pray that this fruit will not only be evident in our lives, but it will convict the hearts of others and lead them straight to your cross.