But the Fruit of the Spirit is...

Over the last couple months the youth group I work with has studied the Fruit of the Spirit. Now over the next few weeks I plan to blog about each part of it. I took the teens through a study of the original Greek terms used, this way we got to the real meaning of each one. Today I want to begin with an introduction, simple things that may not be thought about.

First we see that this is fruit. Fruit is something that is produced, not done. These characteristics are not a result of acts we do, but they are the result of a life lived well, the results of a changed life. Fruit takes time to ripen, it takes time to mature. Fruit must grow. These characteristics don't just appear over night, they take time to develop, and the more we mature, the more we grow into Christlikeness the more these characteristics become evident.

In the movie Evan Almighty there is a line that I love, "If you pray for patience, do you think God gives you patience or does He give you the opportunity to be patient?" I think that's how the Fruit of the Spirit works. It takes time, we develop them as we grow closer to God, and the closer we get to God the more these characteristics become evident in our lives. God gives us the opportunity to develop and express them.

Fruit Grows

The second thing we see is that this Fruit, this thing that is produced, is of the Spirit. This is not something of us, but of God. As these blogs are written and the Greek words are examined you'll see how much all of this is about God, and how everyone of them comes back to God. These are characteristics we can only have in our lives because of God. This is fruit that God produces in us.

God produces the Fruit

The third thing is the wording. Often I've heard it said "The Fruits of the Spirit" but this is not the case. The text does not read, "But the Fruits of the Spirit are..." but rather, "But the Fruit of the Spirit is..." This is not a list of options. It's not I'll pick this one, that one, and those two because they are easy and I like them. This is an all or none list. These nine characteristics are not a pick and choose, but an all or nothing. Again as these blogs continue you'll see how they all build on each other and depend upon each other.

Fruit is, not Fruits are

The study of these with the teens falls under our curriculum idea of "Know, Feel, Be"; this part is the "Be". I've said it before, the goal of life is to become like Christ. A life immersed in God, a life focused on God, a life striving to be like Christ, is a life that lives out the Fruit of the Spirit. It is a life that has the Fruit of the Spirit being produced continuously in it. Over the next nine weeks I will share what I have found. I pray that it is as much of a blessing to you as it has been to me.

Peace be with you