GALATIANS 5:22-23.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control.Against such things there is no law

TO PONDER:

Before I went to Seminary, I worked two days in a factory that manufactured Air Conditioners. I was assigned to a the Plastics department that produced the plastic fans that went inside. Everything was automated by machines. Punch in the right codes, add the carefully calculated ingredients that were measured accurately the same every time, press the button and the end result was always the same. That's why it's called mass production My job was simply to cut off the daggy bits of plastic when they came out at the end of the process. I bored quickly! Many people see their relationship with God that way....just do the right thing, tick off the right boxes...prayer, reading the Bible, worship, serving others, press the button and you'll come out as a neatly package Christian at the end. Paul actually calls that the works of the flesh. It's the stuff we do, the process we follow to get the outcome we want.

But the Gospel operates differently. Paul switches from a mechanical picture to an organic picture. To the image of fruit. Bearing fruit is not something you do. You don't see it happen. But it does...you see the flower and a little bud on the end, you see a small piece of fruit form that grows and get's bigger and resembles the tree it is supposed to be. Producing fruit is about relationship. Connected to Jesus, your life starts to look more and more like Jesus. Sometimes the change is hard to see, but it's there....and it grows...and over time you see changes, transformation. You see the fruit of his Spirit evident in your life. And when that happens, people want to taste that life....the life of Christ in you...for themselves.

What would people taste if they ate the fruit of your life at the current time?

PRAYER:

Spirit of God, may the fruit you are producing in my life be more and more evident every day. Amen.