“You will know them by their fruits.” Christ offered those words in the Sermon on the Mount. They were meant within the sermon as a word of warning against “false prophets,” but that notion of “fruit” pops up often enough through Scripture, namely that if one were to want a gauge of the state of one’s heart, just look at one’s actions and words. “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34).

The Apostle Paul spoke of types of fruit as well. In a well-known passage in his letter to the Galatians, he lists the “fruit of the Spirit,” that is, characteristics of a life guided and shaped in the Spirit of God: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23), set in contrast to what he lists earlier as the “works of the flesh” (5:19-21).

Just in taking a quick inventory of that list, I don’t know about you, but I could stand to see a lot more of that fruit within my own life! But more importantly, if I don’t sense an abundance of love, patience, generosity, gentleness, etc. in my actions and words, what does that say about how I’m walking and living in the Spirit? “You will know them by their fruits.”

The Fruit of the Spirit will be a focus for us over the summer, and I hope each of you will take it as an opportunity to consider how we “who belong to Christ” (5:24) might become more open to the Spirit’s work bearing fruit through how we live. Join us and invite a friend! -Pastor Jay