“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Apart from Him we can do nothing.
Nothing.
We simply cannot muster the strength to be “good” people. We can be “nice”, we can be “happy”, we can be “soft-spoken”, but those are not the fruit of a disciple, which Jesus refers to in John 15:5.
The fruit? It is found in Galatians 5:22-23.
Why are the fruit of the Spirit important enough to be mentioned multiple times throughout Scripture, though? Why can’t we just call ourselves Christians and call it a day?
Maybe it’s because our Lord actually cares about the content of our character. This fruit is Christian character, which is the means of reflecting God’s character to the world, and presenting the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There’s something really cool about how God designed us to spread the Gospel—it isn’t a transactional checklist item that just gets us out of a scolding when we enter the pearly gates, but it actually requires us to lean on Jesus, to build and cultivate an intimate love and trust that can’t help but overflow. How gracious of our God, that He does not just use us as His mindless minions, but that He structures the greatest task in life in such a way that we cannot help but draw nearest to Him!
You see, it’s not about trying to produce good qualities in ourselves to become “good people”. Producing true fruit—the only kind that has true value in life and the Kingdom—comes from a place of consistent abiding. This “abiding” simply refers to doing things which expose ourselves to Christ and keep ourselves in direct contact with Him.
Our purpose, like that of a branch, is simply to bear fruit. But how can a branch bear any fruit if it is not first connected to the source of life—the Vine? Because of our fallen nature, we are doomed to be bent toward drifting in our natural state. This drifting, however, is not one that goes toward the Lord but away. It is up to us to make the conscious decision to connect with and abide in Jesus, no matter how much the enemy or our flesh may try pulling us in all sorts of other directions.
It does not all rest on our shoulders, though! Jesus promised that He would also abide in us. This creates a mutual dynamic that expects our lives to be spiritually and practically in connection with Jesus, and that expects Him to indwell us actively. Even better, when we are weak in our flesh and struggling to desire Him, He has given us His Spirit as an advocate who will intercede on our behalf when we cry out to Him, “help me to desire You above all else!”
If we want to be the light of the world, we must bear fruit. Trees with fruit look much different than trees without, and this is how we display the heart of our King to the dark and broken world. This fruit is not a list we can pick and choose from, it is also not a shallow mask we display when it seems most convenient. No, it is the overflow of a deep, rooted, and refined relationship with the Vine. While not always the most exciting, in fact, abiding can often happen in the mundane, this fruit is steadfast, consistent, and overflowing.
Apart from Him we can do nothing. What good news this is!!
Let us abide in Him, and as we bear much fruit, remember,
You are the light of the world.
You are the anomaly.