![]() Reflect on what the chosen fruit currently looks like in your life. The idea behind choosing one fruit is to be intentional about learning this fruit and applying it in your daily life. You can do this on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, but you’ll want to start by choosing one fruit of the Spirit to focus on for whatever duration you choose. Simply put, you’ll need some space to write these actionable, yet practical, suggestions out. How to Use the Fruit of the Spirit to Grow Your Spiritual Lifeįor these examples you’ll want to snag a planner, journal, or a simple spiral notebook. But before you do, let’s look at ways you can intentionally use the fruit of the Spirit to grow your spiritual life. I challenge you to find Scriptures about each fruit and journal them. With this in mind, let’s look at the Scripture that talks about the fruit of the Spirit-īut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Honestly, as long as there is breath in our lungs, we should always seek to grow. But let us not mistake the time it takes to grow for no growth. If we try to grow our spiritual walk by our own efforts, it will only be a matter of time before we realize that we haven’t truly grown at all. ![]() We have to willingly say “Yes” to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and accept His gentle nudges of conviction and course correction. In order for these spiritual fruits to show up and stay in our lives, it’s going to take some work on our part. I once read that although you can go to the grocery store and buy just about any fruit you want (even if it’s out of season), you can’t go to the spiritual grocery store and buy spiritual fruit whenever you want.īasically what this means is you can’t pick up the fruit of love today, and then a little fruit of joy tomorrow, then go awhile without getting any. In our fast-paced, I want it now society, we’ve been conditioned to have things readily available at our fingertips. If you’re wondering how you can use the fruit of the Spirit to grow your spiritual life, then keep reading. However, one way I’d like to talk about is using the fruit of the Spirit. There are many ways you can enhance your spiritual walk from joining a Bible study group to reading books put out by the best Christian authors. The truth of the matter is you have to be intentional about living and walking out a life that lines up with the Word of God. Contrary to popular belief, life doesn’t necessarily get easier or problem-free just because you’ve said a prayer, been immersed in water, and started attending church. Martin Luther writes that this proves that God “hates comfortless doctrine, heavy and sorrowful cogitations, and loves cheerful hearts.” Theology must always end in doxology - the joyful praise of our Creator otherwise, we have not truly studied the things of God.Upon accepting Jesus as your personal Savior, there starts the journey of growing your spiritual life. Note today that the apostle includes joy in his list (Gal. Paul expands upon these other fruits in the rest of Galatians, and in our study of the remaining parts of the epistle we will have the opportunity to look at them more closely. God is love (1 John 4:8), and to imitate Him as we walk by the Spirit is to love others. From love is born all that is good.” (ACCNT vol. The church father Jerome remarks, “Without love other virtues are not reckoned to be virtues. Commentators both ancient and modern agree that love is the root of all of the fruits in Galatians 5:22–23 in fact, they are manifestations of love, the chief Christian virtue, the one that will last forever (1 Cor. 4:12 2 Peter 1:5–7), at the top of his list (Gal. We see evidence for the unity of the fruit in that Paul places love, the only quality to appear in all the other New Testament listings of spiritual traits (see 1 Cor. John Calvin comments that only those who bear all of the fruit, to one degree or another, prove themselves to be in Christ. The “fruits” of the Spirit are one thus, none of them is optional. Paul lists many different virtues in verses 22–23, but there is a unity to them. Second, the Greek word karpos or “fruit” in Galatians 5:22 is singular. In so doing, they fulfill the vocation given to Israel (Isa. Likewise, believers, as those who abide in Christ through the Holy Spirit, cannot help but yield lives in which the Spirit’s fruit predominate, not evil works (John 15:1–11 Gal. First, there is a degree of inevitability with the word fruit - well-nourished apple trees inevitably produce apples. Let us begin with two observations about Paul’s use of the fruit metaphor itself. 5:16–21), what does it mean to “walk by the Spirit”? The answer, the apostle demonstrates, is seen in our manifestation of the Spirit’s fruit (vv. If, as Paul writes, Christian freedom is not licentiousness or legalism (Gal.
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