How About Some Fruit...

Good Morning!

Don’t you love the crunch of a fresh apple? Just the sound of it makes my mouth water. Of course, since my front teeth aren’t my own, it is an enjoyment from long past. I could tell you how I lost my front teeth … but you really don’t want to hear that story.

How about the firmness of a perfectly ripe banana? Not too ripe, though – those are only good for banana pudding. And not green either. But just perfectly ripe.

And then there is the sweet smell of a cantaloupe freshly cut. Again, the thought of the sweetness lingering over my tongue moves me. Ahhh … good fruit produced by God for me and for you.

Paul talked about fruit in his letter to the church in Galatia. He called it the “fruit of the Spirit”. And the Holy Spirit does produce fruit in us. Here… let’s take a gander at the passage that surrounds it:

Galatians 5:13-25 (English Standard Version)

13For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Walk by the Spirit
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21envy,[a] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Footnotes:
a. Galatians 5:21 Some manuscripts add murder

Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia was dealing with the problem of people coming along and teaching that the new Christian converts had to follow the ritual of the Jews. When Paul talks about “freedom”, he is talking about being free from the curse of the Law. Now, let’s understand that the Law is still effective … but it has no hold over the believer. We are free from the curse of the Law.

In verses 13-15, Paul is admonishing his readers (listeners) to not use this freedom as a carte blanche to commit sin … no, we are to be aware of the impact of our sins upon our fellow man / woman who is watching us. We need to love each other enough to consider each other as we make our journey through this earthly life.

So how do we go about doing this? Well, I can tell you for a fact that this believer struggles … I guess there is just a flaw in me. But God has made provision. He came and took up residence in my life … yours, too … so that He can direct me in the right things to do. This is what Paul means by “walk by the Spirit”. Now when I fail to walk by the Spirit, there is a lot of junk that can pop up in my life – Paul enumerated these and they aren’t pretty. And we see evidence of these in a lot of the folks around us who don’t believe in Jesus.

But look at the fruit:

The first is Love. You know, if we learn to love each other, we go a long way towards solving the personal problems that beset us. And it leads to …

Joy … now we aren’t talking about a constant laugh fest. We are talking about a feeling of happiness even in the midst of trouble. And that gives us ….

Peace … not the absence of war, but a calm assurance that God has everything in control. And that allows us to have …

Patience … because we know that God does things on His timetable … not ours. We have given Him the authority and that allows us to exhibit …

Kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control. Just because we are walking by the Spirit and He is producing good fruit in our lives.

So, let’s live and walk by the Spirit. It beats every other way.

Agape’

Mr. Jim