The Fruit of the Spirit

(A picture of an apple tree producing much fruit. Image URL: http://www.blackforestnursery.com/Fruits.html)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23.

I look at this list and say, "I really want to possess all of these qualities, but I sure have a lot of work to do!" I try to become a person who has all of these qualities, yet I fail over and over again. It would be a really nice place if we all had control over ourselves and just lived in harmony with the fruit of the Spirit among us.This is not reality though, because there is an enemy out there who wants to divide us and tear our relationships down.

Yesterday I was looking at the armor of God and God put it on my heart today that if I start working on putting on the armor of God each day, then my fruit of the Spirit will begin to flower! An apple tree who was just planted cannot just say, "OK, I just got put it in the ground as a seed, I'm ready to start growing apples". The apple tree needs to be taken care of, watered, pruned, given the right amount of sunlight, and enough time needs to pass for the apple trees to be harvested.

The same goes for us, we can't just say, "OK, I'm a Christian and I love Jesus so therefore, I should possess all of these qualities." If we put on the armor of God each day and work with our Coach, Jesus, to put the weapons He gave us to good use, then our fruit of the Spirit will begin to show. It is a constant battle with the enemy and our human nature so we need a lot of TLC and trials to get us to the point of really showing these qualities consistently.

Yesterday at church, our pastor said to celebrate the small steps. The fact that you want to be a better person today means that Jesus is working in you and you are becoming transformed. Maybe tomorrow I can actually do something about it, but today, I have the desire and that's a good first step.