The Fruit of The Spirit

I cannot speak about the Holy Spirit without speaking about the fruit of the Spirit. The scriptures say, ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ Against such things, there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23. The preceding verses speak about life in the spirit and the acts of the flesh which are in contrast to the fruit of the spirit. These are on opposite ends of the spectrum and from the scriptures, it doesn’t look like a person can be in-between. We are either hot or cold, walking by the spirit or walking by the flesh. Galatians 5:13-26 should be read for more detail pertaining to these opposite extremes and would be a good basis for some introspection on how we are living our lives. It’s important to note that each of these virtues or characteristics which form part of the fruit of the spirit is essential for our lives, mental health, and general well-being as much as it is beneficial to the people around us. 

As with all my previous posts on the Holy Spirit, I have a question or questions that I seek to answer through this write-up. My question here is this, how do I bear the fruit of love, when the person I’m supposed to love is the meanest person I know, or how do I bear the fruit of joy and peace when my life seems upside down with no improvement or progress insight? How do I exhibit the fruit of the spirit when their circumstances seem impossible to do so? Also, why is it the ‘fruit’ and ‘not fruits’ of the spirit? Are the various elements of the fruit of the spirit important or one is more important than the other?

Let’s try and answer the last two questions first and look at the other questions in subsequent paragraphs. As per my small Google search, ‘the Greek word for "fruit" is karpos, which is singular. In Galatians 5:22, the Apostle Paul uses the singular form of the word "fruit" and the singular form of the Greek verb "is". Paul uses the singular form to indicate that the nine attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit are collective evidence of Christ in a Christian's life, rather than separate virtues’. This therefore shows that a believer who has received the Holy Spirit is capable of bearing the fruit of the Spirit with these 9 separate virtues.  As a fruit of the Holy Spirit, this is not something that is based on the effort of the individual but by the Holy Spirit at work in the believer’s life as a person engages more and more with the Holy Spirit. Additionally, each fruit is important for the believer's life and well-being. I always say everything in the Bible has been put there for a reason and is important.

Now, this second part answers the rest of the questions. Life can be very challenging with ups and downs of various sizes and magnitudes. There are days when we are level-headed, in high spirits, and generally have self-control and there are days where it seems like we are being tossed by the wind in various directions. How can a spirit-filled believer in these situations exhibit love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? The simple but not-so-simple answer to these can be found in John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 

Bearing this fruit takes time and may not even be visible when we start to bear them. It starts with spending time with God in his word, through prayer and surrender. It starts with allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us and involving him in our day-to-day interactions and circumstances. It starts with obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit when he says to keep quiet instead of exploding with anger or giving to support someone instead of spending your money on that handbag or gadget or even choosing to focus on God’s power and might rather than our problems daily. That’s how the Holy Spirit builds up the fruit in us. It starts with our daily choices to lean into him while he works with us. He is always speaking with us, but are we listening to Him? He is always leading, teaching, and directing us but are we obeying his leadership or are we choosing our own way? 

You could say that you don’t think you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit but are you sure you are trying to listen or hear him? What noises and voices have we embraced that are drowning out the voice of the Holy Spirit or preventing us from hearing Him? It’s time to quiet the other noises and voices and seek to hear God’s voice more. Again, you may hear or sense the Holy Spirit speak to you but are you quick to obey? The one thing I’ve realised is that the more I quiet the noises around me and spend time with God, the more I hear the Holy Spirit. The more I listen and obey the Holy Spirit, the more I hear Him as He speaks. When there is so much noise and I don’t seek solitude with God, I almost shut out the voice of the Holy Spirit and in turn, I’m not able to hear Him speak because I’m focused on the problem, resulting in me not allowing Him to lead me. When this happens, I start leaning on my own strength, start carrying the world’s load on my shoulders, and start seeing my love for others, the joy in my heart, the peace in my soul, my patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control slipping. 

Therefore, to answer the questions, I can show love to the meanest person around me by not leaning on my own strength. We can show love by leaning into God, and His spirit consistently and allowing Him to work on us through daily interactions with Him. God is love and as we lean into Him, his nature of love will be made manifest in us as we obey his daily prompts to show love to our family, friends, random people, and even the meanest people we know. Again, We can have joy and peace in the midst of life’s storms when we daily choose to focus not on life’s storms but on God’s power and ability to take care of the storms not just in our lives but in the world. As evidenced in Matthew 14:25-31, when Peter focused on Jesus he was able to walk on the water but when he started focusing on the storms, as seen in vs 30, he was afraid and began to sink. I know sometimes, all we see are the problems. In fact, it’s very easy to focus on the problems but thank God, we don’t have to shoulder it all ourselves. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You Because he trusts in You.” We have the Holy Spirit who has been given to us as our helper to help turn our attention to God and keep our minds focused on Him. In these times and in our day-to-day, let’s turn to Him for help. When it seems like the help is slow in coming, let’s still ask and hold on. When it seems like we don’t even have the words to ask, let’s have our hearts ask and turn to Him. What do we have to lose especially since our own way has failed?

I also want to highlight that the fruit of the spirit embodies the characteristics of Jesus Christ while on earth. Jesus was loving, filled with joy and peace, patient, kind and good, faithful, gentle, and filled with self-control. He came in human flesh, experienced our challenges and problems as human beings, even being crucified for our sake, and was still able to show these characteristics in his ministry on earth. He was able to do this by not just relying on his own strength but by relying on his father as evidenced by his consistent communion and fellowship with his father. He always found solitude with God and always sought to do His father's will, John 6:37-39. Therefore it’s only possible to bear the fruit of the spirit with the help of God’s spirit. Trying to do it on our own is equal to a constant feeling of inadequacy and failure and God doesn’t want that for us.

Let’s lean into God by spending consistent time with Him. Let’s lean into the Holy Spirit by quieting the noises and voices, allowing ourselves to hear from him and obey Him as He speaks to us. As we lean in, we can progressively bear fruit, one at a time, all at a time, step by step, as the Holy Spirit allows and purposes it.