Growing Fruit

We, as Christians, are tremendously blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.  In Galatians chapter 5 we read that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

For many years I assumed these characteristics (this fruit) would naturally and abundantly flow out of me simply because I carried the name of Christian.  I was puzzled by the lack of them at times.  Like most people I’m not always loving or patient or gentle, etc. etc.  I mean really, we all have our moments.  

I got to thinking about the word “fruit” and how fruit grows.  A tree will produce fruit if it’s watered, gets light, and has good soil.  If a tree doesn’t get these things – isn’t nurtured – then it will cease to produce good fruit and will eventually die.

What if we are like that tree?  We have been given a gift of a "starter" batch of Spiritual fruit (love, joy, peace…) and a purpose to bear more fruit.  But what happens if we don’t nurture our tree – if we don’t feed our fruit?  Will our fruit shrivel up?  Will it become tasteless and bitter?  Will our tree die? I think maybe it will.  Have you ever met Christians who seem completely void of any Spiritual fruit?  Maybe, just maybe, they've forgotten to nurture their fruit and now it no longer grows (or flows through them).

So how do we nurture our “fruit of the Spirit”?  We nurture by practicing or using them.  The more we practice the act of loving – the more love we grow.  The more we practice patience, gentleness, self-control and the others – the more these too will grow.  And the more of these fruit we have on our tree, the more we are filled with the Spirit and the fuller our lives will be.

Challenge:  Practice nurturing a fruit a week.  This week work on being more loving.  Next week work on being joyful and the next peace, etc.  Oftentimes our attitudes and actions just need a little focused attention and nurturing.