Through the Bible - Ruth 3-4, Luke 12:35-59
Good morning,
I love spring in North Carolina, the flowering plants and trees continue to amaze me in their beauty. Many of the blossoms are on fruit trees and the blossoms are an indication of the fruit to come. Their is a certain inevitability about fruit, the well nourished apple tree will produce apples not pears and vice versa.
Today's verse is a favorite of many, it's about the "fruit of the Spirit".
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. NKJV
Just as trees will bear fruit in kind, Christians will bear fruit in keeping with how they follow Christ.
The Greek word "karpos" or fruit in this verse is in singular form. Paul lists many different virtues but there is a unity, a commonality to them. They are "one", none of them are optional.
It all starts with love, a "nevertheless" kind of love. No matter what the circumstances, it carries the attitude that "nevertheless", I will love in ways that show this unity of the fruit of the Spirit that Paul writes about here.
This fruit comes from a "hearty" tree that is grounded, "firmly rooted" in Christ. It will withstand the cold frosts of disappointment of spring, the scorching heat and drought of those "dry" spiritual seasons when it seems that you are in a desert place. It will withstand the late rain, the torrents of doubt and loss that would sweep others away. Instead of destroying the "crop" it will yield abundantly sustained by the love of Christ which proved itself in all that He went through for us, "for the joy that was set before Him".
What season are you going through today? Trust in Christ, follow Him and you will bear fruit in this season.
If you are reading through the Old Testament, yesterday and today have been in the book of Ruth. A great little book to read. If you have some time, read through it. How does it relate to Galations 5:22?
In Christ,
Mike
Gal 5:16-6:1
Walking in the Spirit
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
NKJV
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