Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. GALATIANS 5:22-23

One fruit, but nine flavours; nine quality virtues. No where on earth can you find a man who can plant a tree which can bear such unique a fruit. It is a marvelous and divine fruit; a fruit that can only be produced by the Holy Spirit. It springs not from any ordinary seed because the excellence of this fruit springs from an incorruptible seed of internal grace; the seed that is planted in any one the moment Christ is made at home in his/her heart.

The best tree that any one can ever find is probably this tree- the tree that bears the fruit of the Sprit, since this fruit gives an excellent description of Christ’s character. For us as believers, to bear this fruit would mean yielding our lives to become more and more like Christ; to allow Christ to bring out the full sweetness of His life in us.

However, like any other trees, the soil will influence the kind of fruit the tree will bear because the soil is the one which gives nutrient to the tree. Hence, one’s life can only yield good fruits if his/her life is planted in luxuriant and fertile soil, which in this case, is the soil of Christ. Also, unless one allow God to pull out the weeds of self-will that choke the full growth of the tree, the goodness & sweetness of His fruit cannot ripen to its best.

I do hope that my life will continue to bear more fruit of the Spirit. I want to be able to grow in His goodness and grace without any inward hindrances; any weeds of selfish desires. Nonetheless, like mentioned earlier, bearing His spiritual fruit cannot be resulted by self-effort alone. Given that the fruit is of the Holy Spirit, it is not possible to grow by just trying harder without letting the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. We need to stay connected to the Source, abiding in Him so that the closer we grow to the Source, the more complete our lives will be.