Bear Fruit

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

We are all trees.  We all bear fruit, the question only is what kind of fruit. 

As Christians we are to bear the fruit of the spirit.  Why is the fruit of the Spirit what it is?

Love

Love is primary in the Christian faith.  We are to love God and love others.  "Greater love hath no man that this; that he lay down his life for his friend."  Jesus set the example for us of how to love by dying for us.  Also, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God."  God loves us, sooooo much!  He loves us enough to call us HIS children.  The creator of the universe wants us to call Him Daddy.  That is completely crazy if you really think about it.  That is why Christianity has to be true, because any other religion's god does not act in this way.  Any other religion's god is aloof and cold and distant.  But our God came to earth to interact with us, to die for us and now lives inside of us!  He is NEAR to us, so much so that He becomes part of us!  This is why it must be true.  Because it is so illogical how much He loves us.  He who controls the cosmos loves US!  We all take it for granted but it is completely and utterly amazing if you really think about it. :)

Joy

"The joy of the Lord is your strength."  And Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!"  We often forget about this one in our modern church.  I know the Christian college I went to was very serious.  There was not much talk about the joy of the Lord.  But God wants us to have joy does He not?  Why else then did He create laughter?  When we are parents we want our children to have joy and be happy yes?  It is the same with God.  He wants to see us bursting with joy like children do on Christmas morning over their presents.  God wants to give us good gifts that we sing with complete joy to Him for.  We are to very much enjoy the things He has given us.  It is when this joy of something turns into idolatry that it is bad.  But we should not decide we will not enjoy anything for fear of making it an idol. :(  That would be sad indeed.  What is God calling you to enjoy today?  A good book on this topic is "Pure Pleassure; Why do Christians feel bad about feeling good?"  Check it out.  It might help you give yourself permission to have some joy and fun in your life.  God wants you to be happy.  Do you believe it?  He does.  So give yourself permission to enjoy things! :)  Amen.

Peace

"Do not be anxious for anything but in everything, by prayer and petition present your requests to God and the peace of God that transcends all understanding will gaurd your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  We are to have PEACE in Christ.  We are to let him "lead us beside still waters" and "restore our soul."  God does not want us to run ourselves ragged.  He wants us to rest in Him.  To be still and know that He is God.  We are to have peace inside and the only way we can have peace is if we are following his commands.  The Holy Spirit is there to convict us when we stray.  In order to have peace in God we need to do what He tells us to.  So "fear God and keep his commandments" and you will have His peace "that passes all understanding."

Forbearance

This can also be translated as patience.  We are to forbear hurts from other people.  We are to be patient with people.  We know that God is still working on all of us so this means not having unrealistic expectations of others.  We are to have grace and peace with ourselves and others.  The more we have patience with ourselves, the more we can with others.  Sometimes we are our own worst enemy.  We need to forbear ourselves too and recognize that, even though we are saved, we still battle with the flesh.  None of us is perfect. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."  Recognize that you WILL sin, that it is a fact of life, and you will then be able to have more patience with yourself.  Also recognize that others will sin against you.  It is inevitable.  But God will give you the strength to be patient with others and forgive them.  Amen?  Amen. :)  
Kindness

"Love is patient.  Love is kind."  What is kindness?  It is the opposite of being rude.  It is "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  It is esteeming others as better than yourself.  It is respecting others, valuing them, protecting their feelings.  It is being gentle with them.  It is not judging them.  It is trying to always say things that will only build that other person up.  "Let your conversation be always full of grace."  Kindness is speaking with grace to others.  It is having a soft heart.  It is being compassionate with others as Jesus was.  Remember to be kind to everyone you interact with today and God's light will shine out of your life, out of your eyes.  I love the quote, "Preach the gosple at all times.  Use words only when necessary."  How do we preach the gospel at all times?  By being kind to others. 

Goodness

God is good.  He is the only being who is completely good.  To be good is to follow his commandments as best as we can.  To be good is the opposite of bad, obviously.  It is to be in right standing before God and others.  To be good is to be above reproach.  To have a good name.  To have a good character and reputation. 

 Faithfulness

Jesus said, "Let your yes be yes."  In that, we are to do what we say we are going to do.  We are to follow through on commitments and not waver like a wave tossed in the sea.  We are to say what we mean and mean what we say.  We are to not be flaky or half hearted in our commitments.  We are to be like a rock or an oak tree.  The world is all over the place.  But we are  called to be firmly planted and rooted in Christ and in His word.  We are to be different.  We are to be faithful to others and to God. 

Gentleness

When I think of gentleness I think of how one must interact with a young child.  I once heard, "In order to treat everyone in your life better picture them as a young child or an elderly person."  Having this mentality would make us much more gentle with others.  It would make us more gracious and kind and humble in our interactions.  To be gentle is to not be proud, to not insist on your own way.  It is to be soft with others.  To be tender hearted and kind. 

Self-control

Self-control is often the one that most Christians struggle with.  It can range from our eating habits to the thoughts we allow ourselves to think.  It can be related to activities we choose to do and not letting ourselves be mastered by anything.  Good things can become idols when we do not have self-control in regards to them easily.  A good way to work on one's self control is by fasting.  I think this is why it is a spiritual discipine, because fasting is the best way to keep ourselves in check.  To finally not give in to our every whim and desire.  To, when our body screams that it is hungry, finally tell it and ourselves NO.  We need to have mastery over ourselves and fasting is a great way to accomplish this. :)