The Fruit of the Spirit
When I say “fruit of the Spirit” what comes to mind?
If you answered that it’s “not a coconut”, you’re right, but also, know how I know you grew up going to children’s church? In case you’re wondering what in the world I’m talking about, don’t worry, my jokes miss the landing all the time. But also, you should probably watch this video.
All joking aside, I would venture a guess that most believers know what the fruit of the spirit are (although maybe not where to find them. Admittedly, I even had to look up the reference for a quick reminder). Or at the very least, that there are fruit of the spirit, and we could probably all name a couple of them.
If you don’t know the fruit, no worries, we’ll take this journey together. There are nine of them, take a quick moment to look at Galatians 5:22–23a
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Those all look like pretty good things, right? I mean, if you were expecting strawberries and bananas, you might be a little disappointed at first, but in the end who can argue against a little more love or joy or self-control?
What Do the Fruit of the Spirit Mean?
To put it simply, the Fruit of the Spirit are the spiritual markers that every believer should display in some way as evidence of the change that the Holy Spirit is working in them. Paul’s intent here was to remind the believers in Galatia that when the Spirit is at work in work in their lives, it will be evident.
That’s not to say that we never struggle in any of these ways—that’s silliness. The Good Lord knows that I struggle in more than a few of these ways on a daily basis, but I also know that He is continuing a work in me each day.
The point is a little bit of self-examination. Are you bearing fruit? Is your life evidence of the Spirit’s continued work within you?
I would encourage you to have a few honest moments with yourself and really do a check-up. How are you stacking up? And the point is not to bring guilt, but to press even more into the Holy Spirit’s supernatural providence.
We don’t suffer in shame and guilt, but we recognize our own imperfect humanity, and ask the Lord to do the rest. Know that you probably won’t immediately become patient with your children or less cynical at your job. But through small changes over time, you will be come more and more like Christ.
Let’s take a look at each of the Fruit of the Spirit and see how we’re doing with each. Use this as a guide to help you learn where you need to grow and how you need to pray.
Love
As Christians, we are called to love others as Christ loved us. This means putting the needs of others above our own and showing them compassion and kindness.
Have you ever thought about what it means to put someone else’s needs above our own? Like, really thought about it?
You know when you’re late to that lunch appointment and you drive by the single mom changing a flat tire and you think to yourself, “Man, if I didn’t have somewhere to be, I’d stop and help.”
The problem is that we always have somewhere to be. There’s always something else on our plate.
I would challenge you to look for opportunities to be late. Look for ways to be inconvenienced in order to help others.
That’s just one of many ways that you can grow in love for others. It can be a hard thing to do, but it’s our chief calling in doing life together with other humans on this place called earth. How well are you loving others?
Consider how you can show love to those around you today.
Joy
Joy is not the same as happiness, which is often based on external circumstances. Joy is almost unexplainable—it comes from the Holy Spirit and is a deep-seated contentment that can be present in any situation.
Bearing the fruit of joy doesn’t mean that you will all of the sudden become the bubbling extrovert optimist who will encourage everyone they meet at every opportunity. Joy is far more understated and far more complex than that.
When the joy of the Holy Spirit resides within you, you can live with the expectation of better things to come. Cynicism is replaced with hope and grace. Petulance is replaced with patience—the patience that comes from recognizing that God has immeasurable patience with us every single day.
Put simply, our joy comes from the gospel of grace and resting in the liberating reality that God delivered us from sin and shame, not because we are anything special, but simply because we are special to Him.
Pray for the joy of the Lord to fill your heart and mind.
Peace
Peace is hard sometimes. I mean, we know that “The peace of God surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), but try telling that to the homeschooling mom of five. There probably isn’t a lot of peace going on, at least until the kids go down for bed.
Chaos, disorder, and lack of control all rob us of our peace. But when we trust in God and give Him control of our lives, we can experience a peace that the world cannot offer. That isn’t to say that suddenly every moment will be a peaceful moment. Our world is way to broken for that to be true.
But we can rest (at least a little) in remembering that it’s ultimately God who is in control, and He is our peace. Sometimes, even just remembering that truth can take the edge off and remind us that there can be a little peace in the world. Even when our kids are fighting over who gets to sharpie on the walls.
Ask God to help you find peace in all circumstances.
Patience
I’m going to skip this one and move onto the next one.
If only I could! But it’s something we have to deal with, and I would say that it’s probably something we all (except for a very select few) deal with and struggle with every day.
Patience is the ability to endure difficult situations with a calm and peaceful attitude. It is a fruit of the Spirit that helps us to persevere through trials and challenges.
It’s not only trials and challenges—sometimes we just have to get through our 3-year-old’s nap time, and that’s easier said than done.
Pray for the patience to wait on the Lord and trust in His timing. And then pray for God to help you see people the way He sees people, and show them the supernatural patience that He shows us.
Kindness
Kindness is the willingness to show consideration and care for others. It is an expression of love and compassion.
There are so many facets to what it means to be kind to someone, but the simplest is this: just be decent to people. The bar for being kind is actually kind of low. Astonishingly low.
When your order is wrong at the restaurant, don’t say something passive-aggressive or rude and take it out on your server. When you arrive at the same time to the back of the line at the grocery store, let the other person go first, don’t just pretend you didn’t see them and jump ahead of them (I’ve never done this, probably).
There are small little moments all day that provide us the opportunity to elevate kindness instead of just focusing on ourselves. Try some of those on for size.
Look for opportunities to show kindness to those around you today.
Goodness
Goodness is the quality of being virtuous and doing what is right. Goodness and kindness are somewhat similar, but worlds apart in their application.
If kindness is embracing small moments of decency throughout the day, goodness is adopting that mentality in everything you do. Goodness is a change at the heart level that shifts the way you view everything.
Integrity is a large part of goodness as well—doing the right things for the right motivation, whether someone notices or not and whether it benefits you or not.
As Christians, we are called to do good works and to be a light in the world. The application of supernatural goodness is a large part of how we can continue to be that light.
Faithfulness
Faithfulness is being loyal and dependable. As believers, we are called to be faithful to God and to His Word.
Faithfulness really encompasses a few different disciplines. First, loyalty and dedication to God. It’s an unwavering attention to the relationship with God. It’s remaining obedient to Him when it’s easy and when it’s hard.
It’s also being trustworthy to others. It’s about keeping promises and commitments to the people we do life with every day. Really, it’s about respecting them enough to be dependable.
Ask God to help you be faithful in all areas of your life today, and to show you the ways that you can be more committed.
Gentleness
Gentleness is the quality of being kind, caring, and understanding. It is an expression of strength and self-control.
Really, a lot of the Fruit of the Spirit can be encompassed within the trait of gentleness. The gentle woman is patient, kind, and loving. A man who is rich in gentleness is faithful, peaceful, and self-controlled.
It evokes the image of a mild person who only heightens emotions when absolutely necessary. Pray for the gentleness of Christ to be evident in your words and actions.
Self-Control
Self-control is the ability to control one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. It is a fruit of the Spirit that helps us to make wise choices and to resist temptation.
Some people, it seems, never struggle with self-control, while others seem to lack the trait altogether.
With too many things, I fall into the latter category. Put chips and queso in front of me, and you will see exactly what I mean.
Often it does indeed take a supernatural help to overcome a lack of self-control in a certain area. The good news is that you can ask God to help you grow in self-control.
What Do We Do with the Fruit of the Spirit?
We’ve walked through a brief overview of the Fruit of the Spirit. Remember that these are the evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in your life. When you feel like you are struggling in one or more areas, take a moment to pause and ask why.
Are there things in your life that you should deal with that challenge your self-control (like chips and queso), or are there extra stressors that tend to make you more impatient?
Identify some road blocks to cultivating this fruit in your life, and lean on the Holy Spirit to help you grow in each of them.
For ways to keep these in front of you or use them for your own personal or family discipleship, download the free printable version of this post.
It comes with an special cover page that highlights all 9 Fruit of the Spirit with a brief description. This front page is perfect for laminating and sticking to the front of the fridge or hanging in a child’s bedroom. The printable also includes activities to work through with a child to help them learn about these valuable spiritual markers.
Use the rest of the guide to walk through these important attributes with your child or as part of your morning devotional. Pick one for the day, read through it, and pray for God to increase that measure in your life for the day.
