The Fruit Of The Spirit

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. Proverbs 11:30.

Of all the passages in the Bible that sketch the character of Christ and the fruit that His Spirit brings to our lives, none is more compact than Galatians 5:22–23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” These nine words can be divided into three clusters. The first is love, joy, and peace—these speak of our Godward relationship. The second cluster is longsuffering (patience), kindness, and goodness—especially seen in our relationship with others. The third cluster of faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are especially seen in our inward relationship—the attitudes and actions of the inner self. These three “clusters” are all related to each other, and all will characterize our lives when we abide in Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. No matter how else we bear our testimony for the Lord, the absence of love nullifies it all. There should be no more distinctive mark of the Christian than love. God’s greatest demonstration of love was at the cross where He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. Since we are to love as God does, His children should demonstrate such love by sharing this good news that Jesus came to save the lost. Love is, therefore, an act of the will.

Graham, Billy. Truth for Each Day : Daily Devotions to Renew Your Mind and Inspire Your Soul (a 365-Day Devotional), Thomas Nelson Incorporated, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=30516542.
Created from liberty on 2025-08-05 16:07:44.