By: Alyssa Allen, SAVED News Op-Ed Correspondent
The grocery list of fruits found in Galatians 5 seem like things that should come naturally to us. Things that should form a part of the way we interact with each other and the way we interact with God. However, it becomes abundantly clear in the text that without the intervention of the Holy Spirit in our lives, these simple things would be forfeited.
Identifying Fruit
The Bible says that we can identify a person by their fruits. In the same way that trees in the natural depict what was buried inside the earth to bring them to life, we as people depict what is buried inside our hearts by our actions, reactions, and our words. The Bible says that we speak out of the abundance of our hearts, which therefore means that the fruits of the spirit can only be made manifest if we have hidden the seeds of the spirit inside our hearts.
Despite our best intention, humankind is prone to sin. We were born and shaped in sin and iniquity, and therefore our inclination is to do the things that satisfy our flesh and not the spirit of God. It is important for us to see the importance of spending quality time in the presence of God. We become more like a person by spending time with them. We mirror their ways of being you can adopt their ways of thinking. The same is true for our time spent with God.
Ripen Fruit
When we focus on His words, listen to His music, and interact with like-minded people, we build in ourselves a stronger sense of obedience and a desire to do the will of God that comes only from the Holy Spirit. The more we spend time with the Spirit, the more these fruits ripen within us, and others can be attracted to what we have to offer as believers, drawing them closer to God.
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