by Desiree Bustamante

The world will see Jesus by the fruit of the Holy Spirit living in us.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” 
Galatians 5:22,23 New Living Translation

The Greek word “fruit” refers to the natural product of a living thing. The fruit of the spirit are characteristics of Jesus that are cultivated and displayed in our lives. They are produced through the power of the Holy Spirit and not by us.

Some look at the fruit of the Spirit as something they need to achieve on their own. We can’t cultivate the fruit with our own hard labor, we need only to stay close to the master gardener and He will do all the work in us.

Yet, like physical fruit that needs time to grow, the fruit of the Spirit will not ripen in our lives overnight. As we give the Spirit more control of our lives, He begins to do in and through us what only He can do—shape us and grow us to look more like Jesus. The presence of the “fruit of the Spirit” is evidence that our character is becoming more like Christ’s. And as we become more like our Savior, we can live as free children of God who can serve each other in love.

The Holy Spirit naturally produces fruit within us when we nurture a close relationship with God. Our response is to use those fruits to spread the sweetness of Christ to the world.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado