If I want the fruit, I need the Spirit

Lately, the Lord has been teaching me something simple, yet super humbling: If I want the fruit, I need the Spirit. Although this sounds very obvious (and has been taught in Sunday school longer than I’ve been alive), it’s something that I don’t always live out very well.

In the book of Galatians, Paul talks about the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (bonus points if you remember the fruit of the spirit Sunday school song). And these “fruits” aren’t just nice character traits that we are to strive for, but they are actually the result of something much deeper that is happening in our hearts. These fruits are visible evidence of a life that is being surrendered to and shaped by the Spirit of God. 

And that means that they aren’t something we create on our own, but rather, something that God develops within us. 

What I’ve found in my life is that it can become tempting to try and produce the fruit without staying connected to the Spirit. I may want to grow in patience and peace and joy… But sometimes, instead of slowing down and actually being with God, I take things into my own hands, and I try to produce these fruits on my own… 

And spoiler alert… it doesn’t work all that well. Because eventually, I hit a point where it becomes increasingly clear that trying to imitate the fruit isn’t the same as actually being rooted in The Spirit.

A good (yet slightly embarrassing) example of this would be when I’m driving home during rush hour traffic (some of you can relate… you know who you are). 

I like to think that I’m a pretty patient person. I’ve even been told that I’m a patient dude. If you asked me on a normal day, I’d probably even say that patience is one of my strongest qualities… BUT, put me behind the wheel on highway 21 at 5:30PM, and that patience starts dwindling. Now let me be clear: I don’t speed much, but I enjoy driving the speed limit… And I’m learning that not everybody likes driving the speed limit… Some want to go faster, and some want to go 30 below (especially on the days when I’m running late). And it’s in these moments that I instantly become a whole let less patient. 

And by the time I finally get around them JUST to end up at the same red light, I realize that I wasn’t exactly reflecting the fruit of the Spirit in those moments. 

Now this may be a small example, but I think it reflects a clearer picture of what so many of us try to do spiritually: expecting the fruit to show up in a life that isn’t being rooted in the Spirit nearly as much as it should be. 

And what The Lord has been continuing to teach me this season is that fruit doesn’t grow by us trying harder, but it grows when we’re connected to the vine that produces it (John 15). Several times in Scripture, Jesus talks about this idea of abiding (remaining, staying, making our home) in Him. And the truth is, it’s from abiding in Him that lasting fruit is not only produced, but is also sustained… Fruit that can truly withstand and be evident in every circumstance of life (even bad traffic). 

And so, to invite you into what the Lord has been teaching me in this season, I want to leave you with a question to sit with: 

What would it look like to be more rooted in the Spirit this week? 

Rather than striving harder to produce something on your own that won’t last, what would it look like for you to simply abide in the One who can and does produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in the lives of those who trust Him. 

John 15:5: I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.