Fruitful Lives

Galatians 5:22-25

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have been crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”


Observation:
Paul exhorts in this passage the Galatians about having spiritual fruitful lives. To those who walk in the Spirit of God there is an abundance of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these virtues because they are the fulfillment of the law. To those who walk in the flesh there is an abundance of immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissentions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, carousings and many more things like these. These vices oppose not only the law but also the new covenant. With Christ is not acceptable to be alive in the Spirit and walk in the flesh. We must do both live by the Spirit, and also walk in the Spirit.


Application:
Our fruitfulness in the kingdom of God is not defined but how many good works we do or by how many people we bring to Christ. Effectiveness in ministry cannot be confused with spiritual fruitfulness. The more we become like Christ, the more fruitful we are. Walking in the Spirit means to proactively respond to different situations in life not with the works of the flesh but with the fruit of the Spirit. So instead of hitting things when angry, when we walk in the Spirit we respond with gentleness.
Our character is tested every day and our goal should be to live out according to the virtues that bring Spiritual fruit in our lives. We cannot use our sinful nature as an excuse for unacceptable behavior. If in a given situation I react with envy instead of goodness, I cannot say, “well, this is who I am.” Or, “this is how God made me.” And we should never use our exterior success in order to cover up for interior selfishness.
This season in my ministry is very fruitful. I’m very thankful for the way the Lord’s favor is upon me and upon our church. But I sense the Holy Spirit asking me to be more concerned for the spiritual fruit of my individual heart, which is the most important ministry I can get involved. We must take seriously the process in which we decrease and the Spirit of God increases. We must evaluate our thoughts and reactions. We must identify and deal with the instances when we tend to allow our flesh to respond instead of our Spirit. In many cases we need to do it individually, but in many cases we need the support of an accountability group of friends. There are some habits that need to be treated seriously with the help of professional therapists or counselors. Whatever the case, we must have the guts to do it! It’s for the sake of our spiritual fruitfulness, and for the sake of our service of worship into the Lord.


PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank you so much for the way you are blessing my life and ministry right now and for allowing me to live in the Spirit. Please forgive me for the many times in the day when I react or think according to my flesh, not according to your Holy Spirit. Please give me a passion for fruitfulness in my character. Make more like you by putting my flesh at the cross and by walking in the fruit of your Spirit. Grant me more love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Let me be diligent in the way I minister my heart first before I try to minister to others. Give me the guts to confront my sinful habits in order to be more fruitful. AMEN!