Good Morning!
But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites. -Galatians 5:22-24
You can tell the kind of fruit tree by the fruit it produces, the same way you can tell the kind of person someone is by the fruit they produce. We as Christians should produce good fruits, the fruits of the Spirit that lives within us. When we squeeze an orange we aren’t caught by surprise when orange juice comes out. If we bump someone that has a coffee cup in hand we are not surprised when coffee spills out. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to produce good fruit when life is going good? But what happens when we get bumped or squeezed in life, when something happens that we don’t like? Does good fruit come out? The fruit that is produced under pressure or in the midst of a trial shows our fruit, hopefully that fruit we produce is the fruit of the Spirit. How do we get to that point? The verse above states that we have to crucify our sinful nature along with the sinful passions and appetites. We have to prepare for that squeeze before it happens, we have to grow that orange in order to get the orange juice.
“The fruit of the Spirit is the natural produce of His gracious inward influence, the spontaneous and inevitable result of His uniting us to Jesus Christ.” -Philip Graham Rukeyser
“God prefers fruits of the Spirit over religious nuts.” -Adrian Rogers
Dad Joke of the Day:
There is an ancient legend that says if you can’t sleep at night it is because you are awake.
Have a great Friday and awesome weekend!