Fruit of the Spirit Cont.....

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." ~Galatians 5:22-23

What is spiritual fruit? Does it taste good.....will I like it and is it good for me:) I remember once when my girls were little (3 & 5) we were visiting in the home of one of our families at church for dinner. The lady of the house said to our girls (when I wasn't next to them) "If there is anything you do not like you do not have to eat it....you just spit it back on your plate."
So while we were eating dinner, Emily (5) spit some food out on her plate. I was mortified and looked at Emily and said, as mothers do, "Emily we don't spit food out on our plates." Emily looked at me & then at the lady & then back at me, not sure of what to do next......when finally the lady started laughing and said that it was OK, I told her to do that if there was anything she didn't like. I wanted the girls to feel comfortable in our home. I thanked her for loving my children & letting them be kids in her home but we would be in other homes that they would not be so understanding and I was teaching my daughters not only to try new things but how to politely not eat something they didn't particularly like and that there are some things that we may not like to eat but they are good for us.



Look at the list of spiritual fruit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,
Gentleness & Self-control.

Fruit......a variety of shapes, sizes, textures, smells and colors. In the produce section they are all on display for us to choose what we need, want & desire for our families nutrition. I usually always buy the apples, bananas and grapes because I know my family enjoys these fruits for breakfast & lunch. I love the juicy oranges or peaches and the sweet strawberries. We all enjoy when the weather is right to make delicious fruit salads with melons, canelopes, kiwi, pineapple, watermelon, blueberries, strawberries and anything else I want to add to it:) Fruit is the result of growth!

Spiritual fruit is what results in our lives when we are rooted & grounded in God's Word and in our relationship with Him. John 15 tells us that He is the vine & we are the branches. As we stay connected to Him, abide in Him, He grows His nature in us and that results in the fruit of the spirit. He guides our life in a healthy direction, bearing fruit for the enjoyment of others. We benefit from living a fruit-filled life and those around us also enjoy this fruit displayed in our lives.

How do I grow this in my life and what is the purpose? When you are hungry you go to the refrigerator or to the pantry to get something to eat. This morning I was trying to decide between my morning yogurt or the leftovers. I ate the leftover Hawaiian pizza that we had for dinner last night......the little pineapple tidbits give you a little drink with each bite:) Sorry girls I ate the last 2 pieces. Our choices begin with hunger......you are starved for something more in this life. For your life to matter; to be filled beyond today. You hunger for a deeper walk with Christ to be satisfied with a growing, intimate relationship with Him. This choice will last longer than just satisfying my natural hunger pains. This will spill over into the life of my family and anyone else I meet.

The fruit of the Spirit are those God-like qualities that make us look like Him. They are His nature flowing through our personalities. When I plant myself in His Word day in and day out, the result of this relationship is the fruit of His characteristics in me. The fruit of the Spirit is what we look like when we're like Jesus. Ephes. 5:1-2 says, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." and in The Message it says, "Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that."
This will look different in each one of us because we all have different personalities, God created each one of us special & unique, so we will display the Fruit of the Spirit different. It will be like -
- "God's fruit in my own skin". God doesn't want me to be anyone else but who He created me to be and the same is true for you. Just like He doesn't want an apple to function as an orange or a peach. He designed each fruit to have a different taste and purpose.

The purpose of fruit is because fruit is something we know. Because we come in contact
with fruit in our everyday lives we can relate to it. God is so awesome to bring this truth to us in such a tangibel way in our language. Fruit, words that we connect with for physical nutrition and spiritual nutrition. Spiritual Fruit displayed in our lives is an external result of an internal relationship with Christ. Fruit displayed in a life beckons others to know the God we represent.
1 Peter 3:15 - "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have." and from The Message -"Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy."

Fruit looks good, smells good & tastes good! When we get to know fruit-filled people, we want to be around them because we discover that spiritual fruit tastes good too:)! I desire to be a woman, wife & mother that has the fruit of the spirit on display in my life so that a starving world around me will discover that in Christ we have Hope.......here is food, here is life. Come and meet God, who is my Savior and the fruit-producer in my life.

My prayer today is Lord, I desire to grow a fruit-filled life that matters in myself, in my family & is evident to those around me. Help me to cultivate an appetite for your Word & a hunger to be in Your Presence guiding me to display You to a hurting world. Shape my "eating habits" to be healthy, fresh & new every day, not settling for the "leftovers" (no matter how good they may taste), or even how convenient they may be......I don't want to skip the process of developing good habits of growing fruit in my life that will draw others to the hope and help that can have in a relationship with You.

The fruit of the spirit is about being like Jesus.