"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control; against such there is no law." – Galatians 5:22-23 (MEV)
Every Christian wants to have the Holy Spirit bear fruit in their lives. We all want to be loving, experience joy, and have peace in our hearts and minds. These three, along with the other six traits described, are included in every Christ-follower's bucket-list of traits to develop.
Many Christians, however, find it a great challenge to let the Holy Spirit bear fruit in their lives. For them, it's difficult, even impossible, to exercise patience, gentleness, and goodness towards others. They also find it hard to grow a strong faith while also growing in meekness and self-control. Let's face it: it just is hard to do this by ourselves.
Thankfully, there's a way to allow these fruits to grow in our lives. Would you want to have the Holy Spirit bear fruit in your life? Let me share to you how:
By living in the Spirit who bears these fruits in our character.
Living in the Spirit
The passages that precede and quickly follow Galatians 5:22-23 tell us how these fruits can be borne in our lives. Both of these passages tell us that a life lived in the Spirit of God is crucial to growing His fruits in our character.
First, we are told of the opposite sides both the flesh and the Spirit take in our lives:
"I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." (Galatians 5:16-18)
Next, we are urged to walk in the Spirit of God, crucifying our fleshly passions and lusts:
"Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." (Galatians 5:24-25)
Simply put, if we desire the Holy Spirit to bear fruit in our lives, we must put off our fleshly and earthly passions and live in Him. We must "bear fruit worthy of repentance" (see Matthew 3:8), showing by our thoughts and choices that we have turned away from the things that Christ has saved us from.
Harvest Time
Friends, I say we can see the Spirit's fruit in our lives "without hassle" because it's His job to bear such fruit, not ours. We just obey Him – and follow His lead. Remember what the Lord Jesus told us:
"For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 16:25)
