“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,…” Galatians 5:22 AMP
In Agriculture, there are two expected results when you plant a seed. The first is that it grows to bear fruits and the other is for the fruits to be after its own kind. When you plant a mango seed, you do not expect to reap anything other than mangoes from it if no form of grafting has been done.
Prior to salvation, the Bible describes us as slaves to sin (Romans 6:20), meaning that regardless of our conscious efforts, we oftentimes reacted, behaved or thought in ways that contradicted God’s guidelines (Ephesians 2:1-3). In this state, it would have been folly to expect us to act like Christ because we did not have His nature. We were of the flesh and so produced fruits consistent with the flesh (Galatians 5: 19-21).
This changed at salvation, we became new people and our nature was changed from that of sin to righteousness, we received the nature of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21, Ephesians 2:4-10). And although we might not have seen any obvious physical change, our hearts were changed, and we received the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11, Ephesians 1:13).
The Holy Spirit then does the work of changing us, making us become like Christ (Galatians 5:16) The resultant effect of this work of the Holy Spirit in us is the fruit of the Spirit, while they are not literal fruits like apples and bananas, they are the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in us.
By the working of the Spirit in us, we ought to consistently walk in love, have joy, peace, patience, and self-control, amongst others. This implies that every true believer ought to yield these fruits. Just like the farmer who expects mangoes from a mango tree, God expects us to produce fruits consistent with His nature. If one has truly received the Holy Spirit, the effects must be glaring.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case, there are many believers who don’t seem to reflect these fruits for a number of reasons. This must not be the story of our lives (Romans 12:2). We must yield to the work of the Spirit, following His instructions, allowing Him influence and change us till the entirety of our lives look like Christ.
Over the next few days, we would be looking closely at the fruits of the Spirit, thus drawing us to intentionality and growth so that our lives truly and wholly reflect Christ.
Bible Reading Plan: Psalms 3-4, 12-13