“The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Galatians 5:22–23 NLT).
I remember the first house I lived in that had fruit-bearing trees. We were in the tropics, so we had guava, custard apple, and papaya trees. All of us kids in the neighborhood knew which trees had the best fruit. We knew what months to expect fruit. When there was a cluster of guavas high up in a tree, we would cobble together “harvesting operations” to get the fruit before the birds did.
When a tree is bearing fruit it’s not a secret. The tree will usually flower, and the flowers will turn to seeds, then fruits. At first tiny, then ripening and growing larger, the branches will become laden with fruit. The fruit attracts birds and insects, the tree is obviously active and creating growth.
Sometimes, for a host of reasons, the tree will stop bearing fruit or bear less fruit; this is also apparent, especially when compared with other trees that are producing. My point is that when trees are bearing fruit, it is obvious. The kids know it. The birds know it.
The same can be said of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. When we are showing the fruit of God’s Spirit in our lives, it is not a secret. There is love, joy, peace, and all the other fruits to see. You cannot pretend to be filled with the Holy Spirit any more than an apple tree can pretend that it’s growing apples.
I think God gave us an easy way to know if we have the Holy Spirit in our lives: are we growing the fruit? When a tree is not producing fruit, it’s pretty easy to troubleshoot. Does it need more nutrients, more sun, shade, water, pollinating? What’s the tree not getting? Or getting too much of? Correct it and you will get fruit. It is the same with us. If we are not showing the fruit of the Spirit, we can ask what conditions need to be changed. Do we need to spend more time in prayer? Do we need to ask God to “prune” something out of our lives? Do we need to be patient for fruit to develop?
It’s so gracious of God to use illustrations that play out in nature, rhythms and processes that we can understand and apply to our own lives.