The Fruit of the Spirit

Is an apple tree an apple tree because it produces apples? Or does it produce apples because it is an apple tree? I think the second question is the correct one. I also think that the question can be applied to the lives of believers. We should produce the fruit of the Spirit because we have the Holy Spirit living within us.

As believers, the question is not "what kind of fruit should we produce?" but "are we producing fruit that gives evidence of a Spirit-controlled life?" Do others regularly see within my life the fruit of the Spirit? To I respond to people with the fruit of the Spirit? Are my relationships governed by the fruit of the Spirit?

Hopefully, the answers are "yes." Of course, Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:17 that the flesh is opposed to the Spirit. So, we have a war of competing natures that rages within us. The flesh desires what is in opposition to the Spirit. It will fight, kick, claw, scratch its way into control of my life. But, as a believer, I have surrendered all rights to my life to my Lord Jesus Christ. The flesh no longer reigns in my mortal body. The Lord Jesus does! I am under new ownership and my only desire should be to please my Master. The evidence that I am living in submission to Him will be the fruit of the Spirit for the flesh cannot produce this, only the Spirit can!

Let us each continue to put to death the flesh in order that we may live for Christ! May we humbly pursue Him that we might finish the race before us in anticipation of crossing the finish line in His presence!