THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Understanding the message of the victorious Christian life is sometimes a hard adjustment. It is an adjustment to our thinking to realize that it is IMPOSSIBLE to live the Christian life. We buy into the lie that it is all about WHAT WE do rather than allowing CHRIST to live HIS life through us.

The fruit of the spirit described for us in Galatians 5:22-33 is a perfect description of Jesus Himself. Remember that CHRIST LIVES IN YOU -- as we get to know more and more of him, we are being transformed from glory to glory -- "But we with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

Pastor, author and songwriter, Mike Pilavachi, writes in his book, FOR THE AUDIENCE OF ONE, that "someone said once that we shouldn't pray, 'Lord, give me joy, love, peace and patience,' but we should say 'Lord, I want more of YOU in me.' Why wear out ourselves by TRYING desperately to improve OUR levels of self-control when we get the whole package by
being transformed into HIS likeness? THE MORE WE LOOK AT HIM, THE MORE HIS CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY BEGIN TO BE LIVED OUT IN US. " . . . it is important to not that it is the SPIRIT'S fruit, not OURS . . . fruit trees aren't exactly flexible when it comes to production; a pear tree won't produce apples any more than a banana tree will produce lemons. No amount of concentration, hard work, fertilizer will help either tree divert from its genetic script. The fruit of the Spirit is a description of the character of Jesus, and the only person who can bear the fruit of the Spirit is Jesus . . . Only Jesus can tease of the characteristics of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, humility, and self-control. And it comes naturally to Him."

We tend to pray for the fruit and want it NOW! But Pastor Mike Pilavachi reminds us that "growing fruit always takes a full season. You cannot expect the apples to be hours away as soon as the blossom arrives; instead, you need to allow the development to take place over the months and years. Once the period of basking in the summer sun is over, the apples tend to be ready, but only then. It has nothing to do with YOU -- only HE can produce the fruit in YOU."

Good words for you to ponder today.