"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." —Galatians 5:22-23
The fruit of the Spirit is an important lesson for every believer. You've probably heard the idea of bearing the fruit of the Spirit multiple times already through various preachings, teachings, blogs, podcasts, and so on. The only reason why it's discussed so many times is because getting a good grasp of the revelation of God's fruit and how we come to bear it is highly important if we want to live the life God wants us to live.
What is the fruit of the Spirit? In plainest explanation (though it is so much more than we imagine), it is the result of a life lived abiding in Christ which leads to Holy Spirit-filled and Holy Spirit-empowered living.
God desires that all people and all believers bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but how?
Here are four faith-changing revelations on the fruit of the Spirit that will enlighten us on how to further bear it.
1. Fruit-bearing comes naturally
How many times have you tried to become better only to fail at some point? I believe wholly in the idea of self-improvement, but I have found a solution that is much more effective: allowing the Holy Spirit to cause me to bear good fruit.
Trees bear fruit through a natural process. In the same way, a person who lives in Christ will just naturally go through a process of bearing good fruit. As Galatians 5:23 tells us, "Against such things there is no law."
Fruit bearing comes naturally because no law goes against it. It happens when we simply allow the fruit to grow by abiding in Christ.
2. Fruit is a result of great soil
When we see trees that don't bear fruits we can only say one thing about it: It's in a bad environment. It's most likely in bad soil and in bad conditions.
But a fruit in great conditions will naturally bear fruit. Likewise, Christians who remain in the best conditions of God's presence and Lordship will bear fruit. There are no conditions better to become a fruit-bearing Christian than God's conditions, commands, and promises.
3. A fruit will be a blessing to others
If you think about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—all these things are things that will be of benefit to others. When we act in these facets of the fruit of the Spirit, others will be blessed by our life and by the fruit God brings.
We continue to be a blessing when we allow God to cause us to bear fruits that naturally come as we remain in the Holy Spirit through His in-filling and manifestation in our lives.
4. A fruit is proof of a healthy tree
The fruit may not be for the benefit of the tree (I've never heard of a tree eating its own fruit). In the same way the fruit of the Spirit may not necessarily add any value to our life in a strict sense, but it does prove that we have all that we need.
You see, a tree that bears fruit doesn't need to eat its fruit because it's already had its fill from the source—whether that's the soil, the river or anything in the environment that feeds it.
Likewise, we may not enjoy the fruits of our labour many times, but the fruit only shows just how truly blessed we already are in God so that even when we aren't enjoying our own fruits we are still fully satisfied in our source who is Christ alone.
