But The Fruit Of The Spirit Is...

But The Fruit Of The Spirit Is…


"But the fruit of the Spirit is..." The apostle is about to name many kinds of fruit, but it is all ONE FRUIT, and so he uses the singular verb ...

"The fruit of the Spirit IS:

Love, Joy, Peace,

Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness,

Faith[-fulness], Meekness, Temperance...

(Gal. 5:22-23).

All this is first and foremost for the delight and joy of the heart of the Husbandman; but as it delights His heart, so will He long to share the fruit He has found with others.

God has always desired the "firstfruits" for Himself. God was consistent in this in His relationship with Israel. The "firstborn" was to be His. The "firstfruits" were to be His. "My soul desired the firstripe fruit" (Mic. 7:1).

If we truly love God, then we will show our love to others; but God desires that we give Him the firstfruits. He must have His portion before all others. Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words" (John 14:23). We cannot say, "Lord, I love you so much... I must go forth in ministry... I love you so much .. I must preach, I must build churches, I must be a missionary... I will give you my money..." These and many more acts of service that we may come up with could proceed from the longing of our own heart for some kind of gratification, some kind of fulfillment. True love will say, "Lord, I love you so much I give you myself." And this could lead to many different areas of outreach. But it could also lead to a life that is very unobtrusive, insignificant, self-effacing, unrecognized in the affairs of men or of the Church. You may never become "known" and "recognized" as having any worth to God or to the world about you, but you will be known in heavenly places. Your work may be considered of little or no value in the eyes of men, and oftentimes in your own eyes, but it is something you must do because of your love-relationship with the Lord, and it is of great value in His sight. Your love for Him may bring you into areas of reproach and criticism that may be difficult for you to bear. But if it is because you "love HIM" and are "keeping His Word," then that fruit that you are bringing forth unto Him is not the fruit of an empty vine, but a special kind of "firstfruits" that brings great delight to His heart. In God's sight it is far more precious than the "fruit" you endeavor to produce as you do your own thing, go your own way, initiate your own plans, and bring forth some kind of a product that is acceptable and pleasing to men, but disapproved of God.

Only those who themselves have learned the ways of God will approve of the ways of those who walk in relationship with Him. We need to be delivered from the inherent desire that is in all of us to be "approved of men".

Then as we are planted "by the Well," and confined within the Wall of His Will, God in His own time and way will see to it that our branches "run over the wall." These are the branches that bring forth fruit unto others. Others will then eat of the fruit and rejoice in the strength and the life and the joy that it brings to their hearts. Perhaps they do not know... perhaps they shall never discover... that it is from the vine of Joseph they are eating, "whose feet were hurt with fetters... whose soul was laid in iron." But God knows that it was He who caused that wall to be built, and that He did it in order to shut the man Joseph in unto Himself. And God Himself was the first to partake of the pleasant fruit from the vine of Joseph. The fruit inside the wall was for God alone. God delighted Himself in the fruit of Joseph's love, his patience, his longsuffering, his faithfulness, his meekness, his gentleness, his goodness, his self-control. And because these virtues caused His heart to rejoice He said, "I must share this fruit with others... I must share this fruit with the people of Egypt... I must share this fruit with the children of Israel."

But how can mortal man bring forth fruit to delight the heart of God? Only if that fruit is from the Seed that came forth out of the heart of God Himself. Only if it is the reproduction of the nature and likeness of God Himself. For then it is not the work of Man but the "fruit of the Spirit." Mortal man is merely the garden plot, only the dust of the ground, out of which God is able to bring forth "Fruit after His kind."

Words borrowed from George Warnock