Mark 12:30,31- And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
I have been giving a lot of thought to the fruit of the Spirit lately. The Lord has really taught me a lot of of valuable lessons as I've meditated on those verses out of Galatians: “...but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Today, however is the first time I have made a connection between the fruit of the Spirit and Jesus' declaration of what the greatest commandment(s) are.
What I am learning most recently about the fruit of the Spirit is that it is something that grows in our lives as we abide in relationship with God, for the benefit of others.
It is almost comical how I could be unaware of something so obvious for so long. I have almost exclusively thought of the fruit of the Spirit as an indicator of how close I am living to God; but fruit isn't meant to be just looked at, it's meant to be eaten!
Let me digress for a paragraph: In John 15, Jesus talks about how we are the branches and He is the vine. He says in verse 4 that, “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” This tells me that it isn't the branch's job to worry about what fruit it bears. It is the branch's job to abide in the vine.
As I thought about Jesus' words in the book of Mark, I realized that the fruit of the Spirit is the fulfillment of the 2nd part of the greatest commandment; and it can only happen if the first part of the commandment is being followed.
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Today, however is the first time I have made a connection between the fruit of the Spirit and Jesus' declaration of what the greatest commandment(s) are.
What I am learning most recently about the fruit of the Spirit is that it is something that grows in our lives as we abide in relationship with God, for the benefit of others.
It is almost comical how I could be unaware of something so obvious for so long. I have almost exclusively thought of the fruit of the Spirit as an indicator of how close I am living to God; but fruit isn't meant to be just looked at, it's meant to be eaten!
Let me digress for a paragraph: In John 15, Jesus talks about how we are the branches and He is the vine. He says in verse 4 that, “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” This tells me that it isn't the branch's job to worry about what fruit it bears. It is the branch's job to abide in the vine.
As I thought about Jesus' words in the book of Mark, I realized that the fruit of the Spirit is the fulfillment of the 2nd part of the greatest commandment; and it can only happen if the first part of the commandment is being followed.
Let me put it this way: The fruit of the Spirit grows in our lives as we abide in the vine. What does it mean to abide in the vine, but to love the Lord your God... As we abide in the vine, the fruit of that vine (the fruit of the Spirit) will grow in our lives. What better way to love our neighbors as ourselves than to show them the love, joy, peace, patience... that God has poured out into us and through us!
Lord, as I set my eyes on You each day, let the fruit that grows in my life be a blessing to my wife, to my kids, to my church family, and to every person that I come into contact with that doesn't yet know You! My choice is to surrender to You continually, and allow You to use me whenever and in whatever way You see fit. Lord, have Your way!
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