Fruit Bearing and Love

No human can duplicate the joyous experience of the Christian realizing that Jesus lives inside us.  The Bible lets us know it is only through this relationship that we can produce the fruit of the Spirit.  My question is one we need to ask ourselves personally, and I hope you will pause for a moment and consider an answer that not only pleases God, but also satisfies your newness of life and the production of the fruit of the Spirit.  Here's the question:

What is the more fruitful life of the spirit supposed to look like? 

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

Try all you can and all you wish, and you, in and of yourself cannot produce spiritual fruit.  It takes the work of the Spirit living in us to make fruit production happen. Keep in mind this is the only way bearing fruit which glorifies God can be experienced and evidenced.

This week I read one Bible scholar that challenged my thinking when he wrote on this topic.  He says the fruit of the Spirit is love, and all the rest of the list speaks of different ways in which that love is manifest in our lives.  I'm not sure about supporting or denying that way of accepting the list, but I do agree every word used in the verses above, is based on love.  It stands to reason since God is love, then we who belong to him, should manifest love as a primary fruit which we produce.

Let's think for a moment about our worship, our prayers, our work, our learning........everything, should demonstrate the love of God in what we say and do.  If we are without the love which comes from God, and is to be a produced fruit of the Spirit living in us, then our worship and prayers and everything else is not real.  That shows the importance of love in the life of every Christian.

So my suggestion is for all of us to start at the beginning and examine our production of love.  Love toward God, toward each other in the church, toward everyone we meet, toward our families, toward ourselves.......all are important. 

When you are producing the fruit of the Spirit by having love for everyone, then move through the list and see how those things speak to your life. 

Now this verse from 1 John 4:7-8, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love."

<ronbwriting@gmail.com>