How Ripe Is Your Fruit?

The fruit of the Spirit is not push, drive, climb, grasp and trample. Life is more than a climb to the top of the heap.  Richard J. Foster

God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you're tempted to express the exact opposite quality. Character development always involves a choice, and temptation provides that opportunity. Rick Warren

I think one of the things we have a problem with in developing the fruit of the Spirit is too often we are distracted from fully developing our fruit.  I think that is why Paul compared our life to fruit.  Anyone who ever buys fruit knows not to buy the bruised banana or mushy melon.  If the outside isn’t any good the inside won’t be either.  How many times have you bought fruit because it looked beautiful on the outside but turned out to be rotten on the inside?

If we are going to be fully developing followers of Christ, we are going to need to practice the fruit of the Spirit.  Our fruit will never grow to maturity if we are disconnected from the Vine. Too many times we become discouraged or we sin so we disconnect from the Vine and when we do that we stop bearing good fruit. The life giving source is missing.

I have a quince tree in my yard that bears fruit every year.  If you have never seen the fruit of a quince tree I will describe it for you.  It puts on blooms every year then gradually throughout the summer produces fruit.  The fruit of this tree is beautiful.  It looks like a softball size green apple.  Our neighbor could see our tree over our fence and commented about how beautiful our apples were.  The problem with our so called “apple tree” is the inside of the fruit is hard as a brick even when it is ripe.  You might be able to cut into the fruit with a chainsaw.  My sister tried to make jelly out of the fruit but gave up and threw it away.  The inside was too hard.  We even had animals try to chew on them, (because you can see the teeth marks on them), but they gave up.  I started picking them before they fell to the ground because I was afraid they would hit my dog in the head and knock him out. 

Too many times we are in such a hurry that we don’t take the time to allow the fruit to fully develop.  Then there are times when we are hard hearted and our fruit matures but it is no good on the inside. If I don’t spend time understanding and practicing love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, I will never produce ripe fruit.  Paul tells us that against such there is no law. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to develop and produce good fruit.  How I handle everyday situations can either produce good fruit or bad.  Remind me daily that I need to meditate on Your Word so that the fruit I produce is pleasing to You. 

    

Scripture:  My Walking in the Spirit

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 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.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 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.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.  Galatians 5:16-26