Fruit Cocktail
“True disciples will love one another. If we have experienced love, then we can give love. You can’t give away what you have never experienced.“
– Pastor Tony Walliser
Read John 13:31-35
Fruit Cocktail
“But 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!
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.”
– Galatians 5:22-24 NLT
I’ve gotten to the point where I like to eat fruit. A banana here or an apple there. Or a fruit cocktail mixture of cantaloupe, melon, grapes, bananas and watermelon (or whatever else I want to pick and mix with it) is often refreshing, especially in the summer.
When I was younger, that wasn’t necessarily the case. A banana every now and then just to keep leg cramps away was about all you could get me to eat. Meat and potatoes were where it was at for me. Some vegetables and more than likely a bowl of cereal or ice cream, dependent upon the time of day.
But fruit? Rarely ever.
Now, my kids like most fruit and will try to take pieces of mine when we have had it in a medley or mix… bananas, grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon. They use to try to pick, take, steal it from me, if they could (or I would allow).
As I think about today’s passage, the first thing that jumps out at me is that the Fruit of the Spirit is one fruit. Not a number of different fruits or pieces of fruit to choose from. One solidified fruit.
As we grow in our faith, this Holy Spirit fruit should become more and more evident in our lives. And if some of these fruit pieces are weaker than others, I’m wondering if it is evidence of areas in our lives that we might be holding back, holding onto, trying to handle and manage ourselves, instead of giving it all to the Lord as we should.
For me, peace and patience stand out more than some of the others as areas that I need to evaluate, as areas that I need to hand over to Jesus and allow Him to show me what I am holding back, or what I continue to dwell on and try to handle on my own.
The opposite of patience is impatience. The opposite of peace is anger, frustration, being uncontent. Peace and Patience seem to be tied closely together.
What is it that I keep holding on to that steals my peace and patience, which ultimately could steal my joy… my kindness… my goodness… my self-control… my faithfulness… my love?
What is it that is trying to pick our Fruit apart not allowing the whole Fruit of the Spirit to grow and properly flourish in our lives?
Let’s examine our hearts. Examine our lives and, holding nothing back, give it all to the Lord.
Let’s focus on what it truly means to be a Follower of Jesus. Not just by words that come from our lips, but by action and deed. Let’s begin to live out loud… that is, let’s live what we say we believe and love like Jesus.