“ The Fruits of the Spirit” - Author and Writer Ronald Nelson

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“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.” Galatians 5:22-23

ENCOURAGING WORD:

The Apostle Paul describes “the fruit of the Spirit” as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” These qualities reflect God’s character and the behavior of those living according to God’s Spirit.

When we participate with God, we’re like new branches that are grafted into a living vine, which begin to yield the fruit of that vine.

John 15:1-11; “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Love and Joy Perfected

John 15:9-13 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

So if God is loving, patient, and always emanating peace, then as we participate with God, we will bear that same spiritual fruit, like love, patience, and peace.

We can better understand the nature and purpose of these spiritual fruits by exploring their source and the nuanced way they connect with other parts of Scripture.

The Source of the Fruit of the Spirit

By describing these characteristics as the fruit of the Spirit, the Apostle Paul is saying they come from the Holy Spirit, who is God. The Spirit cultivates them within us as part of God’s work of restoring all of creation.

4:11

Holy Spirit

We cannot produce “spiritual fruit on our own; we can’t simply will ourselves to be more gentle or work harder to be more joyful or faithful. But Scripture does suggest that human beings somehow take part in providing the conditions for the growth of spiritual fruit. In order for the life of the vine to grow fruit in us, we have to firmly connect ourselves to the vine by pursuing God’s way of life over our own.

When writing his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul expresses frustration because many are disconnecting from God’s way of life. Rather than trusting Jesus’ Gospel, they’ve begun to follow a “different gospel” Galatians 1:6-7; “ I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

As a result, they’re accepting or rejecting one another based on human traditions and social status, instead of sharing and experiencing God’s gracious love with each other. They’re embracing a way of division that opposes God’s Spirit and works against the loving, unifying Gospel of Christ Galatians 3:28-29; “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

So Paul teaches them to return to Jesus’ real Gospel and to participate with (rather than oppose) the Spirit’s work, which provides the conditions needed for spiritual fruit to grow. Paul encourages people to “walk (or live) by the Spirit” Galatians 5:16; “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” But what does that really mean?

Some traditions describe walking by the Spirit as a kind of personal surrender to the Spirit’s transforming work in our minds and hearts. As the Spirit changes our hearts, our behavior also changes, leading us to bear fruit. Other traditions suggest that walking by the Spirit is about choosing to trust God by following his instruction. For example, the choice to love and forgive our neighbor is also a choice to participate with God’s Spirit, which leads to more and more spiritual fruit.

However we understand the mysterious interplay between divine and human action, Paul invites us to cooperate with what the Spirit is doing in us, so that we can join in God’s work of restoring all things, including our own lives.

Paul’s fruit imagery echoes the (tree of life) in the garden of Eden; Genesis 2-3; “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

And it recalls the metaphorical tree in Psalm 1, which suggests that people can be like strong trees that bear fruit in season if they are rooted by “streams of water”

Psalms 1:3; “He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

The water in Psalm 1 symbolizes God’s torah, that is, God’s “law” or “instruction” Psalms 1:2; “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.”

But elsewhere in the Bible, streams of water can also represent the Spirit.

Isaiah. 44:3; “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;” who empowers us to follow God’s teaching Ezekiel 36:26-27; “ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

As we drink the nourishing water of the Spirit by trusting and following God’s instruction, we grow into strong trees of life, producing fruit that brings healing and wholeness to the world around us.

The Individual Fruits of the Spirit

When Paul lists individual fruits in; Galatians 5:22-23; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”  Pauk is not attempting an exhaustive list. He could have expanded it with characteristics like compassion and humility; Colossians. 3:12; “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; or steadfastness; 2 Timothy 3:10; “But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance,

But the nine fruits Paul mentions in Galatians offer a summary sketch of what life in the Spirit looks like, so let’s examine key details and nuances for each of the nine fruits that Paul outlines.

 Love

Love tops Paul's list, which is not surprising because he frequently teaches that love is more essential to human life and spiritual flourishing than anything else.

In; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 

He compares it to other fruits of the Spirit to demonstrate the superiority of love, which, as New Testament scholar Ernest DeWitt Burton says, this may suggest that Paul sees love as “the source from which all the rest flow.”

In the Bible, love is an enduring commitment to be with and to be for another person. In other words, love always chooses to act in ways that support their greatest good. Love often involves feelings of tenderness or affection but is not solely governed or defined by emotion. Most essentially, love is action.

Biblical authors explain that genuine love is grounded in God Who is love; 1 John 4:7-8; “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”  

1 John 4:16; “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.’ and God works for the good of all creation. This divinely sourced, life-giving concept of love permeates the whole Bible.

The Exodus scroll portrays God as a divine rescuer, who sets enslaved captives free and welcomes them into a marriage-like relationship. God is with them and always acts for their greatest good, presenting a paradigmatic picture of God’s love.

In the New Testament, God’s self-giving love is most fully displayed when the divine Word, takes on human flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. To become human, God lowers himself from the heights of infinite-divine life into the suffering and corruption of our current earthly reality in order to heal humanity and all creation;

Philippians 2: 3-11; “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

So love is about giving from one’s own life, or self, in order to care for another.

The Spirit empowers us to respond to God’s love by showing the same generous love toward one another;

1 John 4:7-21; “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Seeing God Through Love

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

The Consummation of Love

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

Obedience by Faith

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

In fact, Jesus exhorts his followers to reflect God’s love not only to friends and neighbors, but also to opposers and enemies Matthew. 5:44; “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”

True love shows no partiality and treats everyone as God’s cherished creation, seeing that the image of God is breathed or “spirited” into every human being.

With that being said, it is important to note that love is not ignorant optimism that turns a blind eye to corruption and evil. Love relies on the power of gentleness, mercy, and honesty to confront evil, so that we can right wrongs and break free from harmful patterns of behavior. And love offers forgiveness, never holding people’s wrongs against them and always working to restore relationships 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Joy

Joy is a heart-swelling kind of delight. This spiritual fruit can grow out of gratitude for God’s many gifts or out of hope in God’s promise to make all things new.

Seeing God’s work around us, both in the miraculous,and every day.

Acts 8:6-8;” And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed, and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. 

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26; “Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?  For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Can stir up joy. It erupts suddenly at an unexpected cancer-free diagnosis, and it blooms slowly while savoring the aromas of fresh-baked bread. A cool summer breeze kissing our skin can spark joy, and so can meaningful conversations with friends. Joy often comes through encountering goodness or beauty.

But joy is not dependent on good experiences or comfortable lives full of delight. We can also find joy even through hardship. James invites us to “consider it all joy” when we “face various trials,” recognizing that hardship often accompanies the process of being formed into people who are “complete, lacking in nothing” James. 1:2-4; “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Now that doesn’t mean the cause of human suffering is good or that people shouldn’t grieve when hurting. But it is possible for joy to accompany any difficult circumstance when we trust that God’s ongoing work is happening and always bringing beauty from ashes. Isaiah 61:3; “To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” 

It’s a different kind of joy, more like contentment than excitement, reminding us that tears are temporary on God’s path to a fully restored humanity.

Whether it’s that heart-swelling kind of delight born from good experiences, or the hard-won, peaceful sense of confidence in God’s promise to ultimately end all suffering real joy is a powerful fruit of the Spirit. Revelation 21:3-5; “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

It’s available to each of us, whatever circumstances we face. And we take joy in seeing glimpses of new creation emerging around us.

Peace

The Greek word for “peace,” eirene, refers to both internal peace in our hearts and relational peace with others. In Galatians 5, Paul doesn’t specify what he means, and he likely has both in mind. Jesus tells his disciples that even in the midst of trouble and persecution, they can be filled with peace because he has “overcome the world” John 16:33; “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

So Paul invites us to bring all our concerns to God because he holds the world in balance and reigns supreme over all earthly rulers. This allows his peace to grow in our hearts and minds as spiritual fruit. Philippians 4:6-7; “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

And Paul is also deeply concerned for relational peace and unity within the community, calling people to “pursue the things that produce peace and the building up of one another” Romans 14:19; “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

The Spirit empowers us to act as peacemakers, living in harmony with those around us and even entering into conflicts in order to create peaceful resolution.

Patience

Imagine someone with a nose stretched out like a flute, or perhaps an elephant’s trunk. This bizarre picture can help us visualize the idiom “long of nostrils,” which is a key image in the Hebrew Bible that represents patience. But what does “long of nostrils” have to do with being patient?

Like cartoon characters with smoke shooting out of their ears, in the ancient Hebrew imagination, smoking anger comes out of a person’s nose. And having long nostrils means that the angry smoke takes longer to appear. In other words, that person doesn’t immediately act in anger.

So the Hebrew idiom “long of nostrils” is often translated as “slow to anger” Exodus 34:6; And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,

Proverbs 15:18; “A wrathful man stirs up strife, But he who is slow to anger allays contention. And early Greek translators used the root makrothum, or “patient,” to communicate the idea.

The New Testament says God is patient in bringing judgment because he is “not wanting for any to perish, but for all to move to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9; “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” As God’s Spirit helps us see others like God does, we can find strength to also treat people with divine patience.

Rather than exploding with judgment or anger, we can participate with God and cultivate the spiritual fruit of patience, extending mercy to all, forgiving, and supporting people as they grow.

Kindness and Goodness

These next two spiritual fruits overlap. Early Greek translators used both khrestotes (“kindness”) and agathone (“goodness”) to represent the Hebrew root tov, which describes what is good, beautiful, right-functioning, and just. Khrestotes is a narrower term, referring to “active goodness” directed “toward others.” God shows his khrestotes, or kindness, by offering humanity true life through Jesus and also by doing good to “ungrateful and evil people”

Ephesians 2:4-7; “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” 

Luke 6:35; “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.”

So we can reflect God’s khrestotes “kindness” through acts of love and generosity, especially toward those whom we may not believe deserve it.

Agathone, or goodness, is more generally about acting in ways that are pure and right, or following God, who is truly good Mark 10:18; “So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good?”

No one is good but One, that is, God. When God creates the universe, he sees that the world is tov, or good, at every stage of completion.

Genesis. 1:4; “And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Genesis 1:10; “ And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:12; “And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:18; “and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.” 

Genesis 1:21; “So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis. 1:25; “And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” 

The spiritual fruit of goodness, in the biblical imagination, flows from the original nature of God’s entire creation, especially humanity. After God sets humans within his creation, he calls everything he has made tov me’od, which means “very good”

Genesis 1:31 ”Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

So when we trust and follow our creator’s instruction, we are cultivating the spiritual fruit of God’s original goodness breathed into all creation.

Faithfulness

In the New Testament, the Greek word pistis often refers to “trust” or “faith,” and it can also mean “faithfulness” Romans 3:3; “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?”

For biblical authors, faith and faithfulness are two sides of the same coin, capturing ideas like fidelity, reliability, trustworthiness, and allegiance.

Having faith does not mean simply believing in or agreeing with statements about God, James. 2:19; “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”  

Faith is active, and it requires dependence on God, a sense of trust so deep that one chooses to walk in God’s ways.

Early on we said that the fruits of the Spirit describe God’s own character, and biblical authors consistently portray God as faithful, dependable, and trustworthy. God is never depicted in the Bible as random, chaotic, or motivated by changing passions. So when we receive God’s Spirit and learn to depend on his way of life above our own fluctuating passions, we also become more trustworthy and faithful.

When Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane before he is put to death, he expresses his good human will to avoid suffering and death. Jesus pleads: “take this cup from me,” which is his way of asking to be relieved of the painful responsibility he faces. And yet, his choice to remain faithful is greater than his desire to survive, so he concludes his plea with a commitment: “not my will, but yours be done” Luke 22:42; “saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Jesus chooses to do God’s will, whatever the cost, and this might be the clearest picture of faithfulness in the Bible. When we choose to walk the same path as Jesus by submitting our own will to God’s will through the power of the Spirit, we cultivate the spiritual fruit of faithfulness too. As God has been faithful to us 1 Corinthians 1:9; “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  we respond with faithful commitment to God and to others.”

Gentleness

The Greek word prautes is translated as “gentleness,” which involves acting tenderly or softly and having an attitude of humility. The biblical authors often portray God with images of superior strength and sovereign power. But they also use images like a mother bird protecting her chicks under her wings to suggest that, while infinitely powerful, God’s strength can be seen in his gentle and tender care for his people Psalms 91:4; “He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” 

Isaiah. 31:5; “Like birds flying about, So will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; Passing over, He will preserve it.”

Isaiah 40:11 shows us God’s tenderness as a shepherd who gathers lambs in his arms, carries them close to his heart, and leads the nursing mothers along. Isaiah 40:11; “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.”

And when the prophet Elijah encounters God, he expects the divine presence to show up in a powerful earthquake or glorious fire; instead, he finds God in a gentle “whisper”

1 Kings. 19:12; “and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.”

Later in the New Testament, when God takes on human flesh as Jesus of Nazareth, he does not announce his kingship with trumpets or grandiose fanfare, with soldiers or war horses. Jesus enters Jerusalem as a “gentle” (praus, related to prautes) king, riding a young donkey.

Matthew 21:5; “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.”  as foretold by the prophet Zechariah.

Zechariah. 9:9; “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

And when Jesus speaks to weary and overburdened people about life with him he says, Matthew 11:28-29; “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Jesus reminds us that true power is revealed not by dominating others with violent might but by caring for others and setting them free—giving peaceful, healing rest by treating people with gentleness.

After Jesus departs, God’s Spirit continues inviting people into a way of gentleness. The Apostle Paul, for example, draws a contrast between visiting the Corinthian church “with a rod” of correction versus coming “in love and a spirit of prautes,” or gentleness

1 Corinthians 4:21; “What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness? 

Paul chooses gentleness (at least in this case). And just a few verses after outlining the fruit of the Spirit, Paul calls people to confront wrongdoers not with force but “in a spirit of prautes”

Galatians 6:1; “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 

See also 2 Timothy 2:25; “ in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,

When we choose paths of gentleness, we benefit from—and offer others—true spiritual fruit that God produces within us.

Self-Control

Successful athletes model self-control by avoiding desirable things that would harm their bodies. While they may crave the satisfaction associated with cookies or cake, they discipline themselves to eat vegetables and lean protein instead. They may desire relaxation, but they push themselves to train hard. By exercising control over their bodies, rather than allowing their desires to control them, they prepare themselves to compete well.

Paul encourages the Corinthian church to apply that same kind of disciplined self-regulation when pursuing God’s ways.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27; “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

We exercise self-control when we turn away from what Paul calls “works of the flesh,” that is, futile attempts to find self-fulfillment by prioritizing our own desires while neglecting our neighbors Galatians 5:19-21; “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Pursuing satisfaction for our own desires often looks like the best path to freedom. But without self-control, we end up getting controlled by those ever-changing desires. Jesus and the New Testament authors see the good life as found in living with love for God and neighbor in every situation. Although it may seem counterintuitive, exercising self-control gives us true freedom.

Walking by the Spirit

God created us in his own image, and, from the beginning, he’s been teaching us to reflect his divine character. We do this by bearing good spiritual fruit as we do what’s right in God’s eyes and care for his creation and everyone in it. When we serve ourselves and do what’s right in our own eyes, we reflect a corrupted image of God. Because God is not at all self-centered; God is pure love, always working for the good of others.

As human beings, we cannot lose God’s image, but we often end up distorting it, and this allows God’s spiritual fruit to wither and die. We mistakenly exchange the good life for something as valuable as a rotten apple.

But biblical authors invite us to trust that when we live in the way of Jesus—who bears every spiritual fruit—we also participate in the Spirit’s work. God renews his own image within us;

2 Corinthians 3:18; “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as^]by the Spirit of the Lord.”

So walking by the Spirit creates the conditions necessary for God to cultivate within us the spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—the priceless fruit that brings healing and life to everyone.

Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.