Yesterday we asked the question: What’s influencing me? Today we take it one step further.
How can you tell? And Jesus gives us a remarkably simple answer: Look at the fruit. You don’t have to dig up an apple tree and inspect its roots to know what’s happening beneath the ground. Eventually the invisible process becomes visible and fruit tells the story. Which is why throughout this series we’ve used the phrase: Fruit reveals influence.
Paul gives us two dramatically different pictures in Galatians 5. First, he describes what life looks like when the flesh is in control. Then he says, “But the Holy Spirit produces?” Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. These aren’t nine spiritual merit badges we earn by trying harder. They are evidence , the receipt. Remember, a receipt is proof a transaction took place. Peace or patience become the evidence that you’ve been living under His influence. Kindness doesn’t make you spiritual, it reveals that the character of Jesus is being formed in you. Fruit makes an invisible process visible.
Think about where we’ve been during this series. Maybe you’ve discovered you can wait without becoming as frustrated as you once did, Patience! Maybe circumstances haven’t changed, but somehow your response to them has, Joy! Or maybe you walked through something that normally would have filled you with anxiety, but there was a steadiness inside you that you couldn’t completely explain, that’s Peace! Or maybe somebody pushed the right button—or the wrong one, and you didn’t respond like the old you would have, that’s self-control, gentleness and love for the win!
Don’t miss those moments, sometimes we’re so focused on the areas where we still need to grow that we forget to recognize the fruit that is already there. You may not be where you want to be yet. but thank God, you’re not where you used to be either.
