Growing Fruit: An Introduction

Over the next few weeks or months, I will be writing a series of posts covering each fruit of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5:22-23. This shorter post is an introduction and will briefly explain why we should be striving to grow the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Crucified with Christ

Galatians 2:20 is a wonderful summary of the Christian life. When we become Christians, we are turning away from our old way of living to live for a perfect and loving King who wants us to live differently than the world. Because we are crucified with Christ, Christ's will becomes more important than our own, and we should bend our wills to reflect His will for our lives. It is not about us anymore. It is all about Jesus.

And because of what Christ has done for us, we are now called to live in freedom, as shown in Galatians 5:13. Our freedom, however, is not meant to indulge in more opportunities for sin. Instead, our freedom should lead us to lovingly serve one another.

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus warns us that we can't serve two masters. Galatians 5:16-16 mentions that the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to each other. If we want to serve Jesus, then we must walk by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:24 mentions that if we belong to Jesus, then our flesh, including its passions and desires, have been crucified. We need to use our freedom in Christ to serve Him and not our flesh.

Live the crucified life

But how do we serve Jesus effectively? How do we avoid serving our fleshy, sinful desires? By growing the fruit of the Spirit. If we want to avoid gratifying the desires of the flesh and instead walk in step with the Spirit, then we need to actively grow the fruit of the Spirit.

I appreciate Paul’s use of the word fruit. Fruit does not grow overnight. We cannot go from living in complete spiritual carnality and serving all of our fleshly desires on one day, and then have all of the fruit of the Spirit grow into maturity the next day. It takes time, discipline, and dedication to grow them. A gardener who does not regularly water his plants and keep away weeds and pests will lose what he has grown. 

We also should truly desire to grow each of them. If we treat growing the fruit of the Spirit as a simple duty that we are expected to do, then we will miss out on the soul-satisfying joy that comes with crucifying our flesh and striving to glorify Christ in all things.

Personally, I do not often think about growing the fruit of the Spirit, not only to be a better Christian, but also to avoid sin. It is something I want to get better at, and I hope that you will learn more about the fruit with me over the next several posts. Each fruit plays an important part in our daily lives as Christians. Not only will the fruit help us on a personal level, but the fruit will also help us to serve others.

You have been crucified with Christ! Live the crucified life and grow the fruit of the Spirit.