Fruits of the spirit- the power of words

Would you eat a piece of rotten fruit?

Sounds pretty unappealing, yet we do it all the time.

Whenever we choose to be mocking or complaint-driven or reckless? We are choosing rotten fruit.

Galations 5:19-20 But when you follow your own wrong inclinations, your lives will produce these evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure,idolatry, spiritism, hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group—and there will be wrong doctrine,envy, murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing…

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

Sometimes we ignore the first verses, in order to focus on the happy songs we remember from childhood. You know, songs about the Fruit of the Spirit?

It is so easy, so natural to gravitate toward the first verses. We say what is on our mind and convince ourselves we are justified. (Can we puhleeze stop using “just sayin” as if that authenticates the damage?)

We take what doesn’t belong to us while saying that everybody does it. We complain without gratitude, and criticize without self-examining.

Practical examples of the fruit of the spirit

Oh, how naturally this happens!

If we want love? Let’s stop demanding our way.

If we want joy? Let’s stop complaining and look for reasons to celebrate life. Give more than we get.

If we want peace? Let’s not hold on to bitterness and discontent.

If we want patience? Let’s ride the storm and see what lessons are waiting at the end.

If we want kindness? Let’s give it as our first response, not in response.

If we want goodness? Let’s set aside what we think is right and see what God tells us…that is where it waits.

If we want faithfulness? Let’s love more than we want to, setting a new standard.

If we want gentleness? Let’s extend so much grace we have nothing left to give.

If we want self-control? That might be the hardest one. We have to practice and practice and then do it some more, until it becomes second nature.

Fruit of the spirit and our words

If a bowl of produce was set on my table, I might pick the grapes, or bananas or apples. Things I like less would stay in the pile.

I’d miss the vitamin C of the peaches, the fiber of the pears, the B complex groups in the berries. And we all know what happens to fruit left in the bowl; it rots and spreads to the connecting pieces.

The fruit of the Spirit is similar.

We might not want to eat patience and self-control, but we would miss out on their benefits. Without incorporating them into our life, leaving them in the bowl, like all rotting things it spreads to the healthy and can overtake it.

Dump out the rotten fruit, and choose a healthier option.