By Their Fruit

Jesus taught that the mark of His real disciples would be by their fruit. And Paul went on give a more a detailed version of what the fruit is. It's a personal mark, to show if I am walking in the Spirit, it's a mark for those around me that they are walking in the Spirit, it is also a mark for those who lead and teach, that they're walking in the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness etc. These are regarded as the fruit, not fruits, meaning these are qualities you would expect from someone bearing the Spiritual fruit its not what you may look for one person and not see others. *It's all of nothing*. Jesus said that we are to abide in Him, and this fruit will come. And if we don't we will wither and die, and so will the fruit we bear, carnal and in war with the Spirit The fruit of the Spirit, is a teaching which no false teacher would dare speak of. And if they do they would downplay them, or make them insignificant in our walk. Because they themselves bear the fruit of the flesh, and these show they stand before God and man, condemned and they cannot even pretend to have the fruit, or even pretend they want to bear this fruit. They are full of hatred, malice, lack self-control, they are full of lustfull passions and not only do they follow those desires of the flesh, encourage and go as far as cheering those that do. And they invent new ways to bear carnal fruit The fruit of the Spirit can be compared to the description of a single fruit, we can desribe it by the shape, color, texture, smell and taste, and even without listing all the qualities a person you're speaking to can guess which fruit you're describing This means that one quality is linked to another and they exist in Harmony but never independently. Unlike gifts which are given as manifestations, can be given as one or many, showing Gods power in the person ie foreseeing the future, performing miracles, healing, church leadership, etc. Often a person may have a few but not all, they're gifts not gift. The Fruit at their foundation is Love and holding them all together is Self Control. It's love which is shown in all those gifts, and the gifts are based on action, so that the light may shine and that the people see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. And in another epistle Paul went to details to describe love, that is patient, kind, long suffering, etc. In this passage dedicated to the Galatians, *just as we speak of the Love of Corintians let's speak of the Fruit of Galatians.* If you are have patience, it's not arbitrary patience, it is based on the love of God. This means being patient in love,due to being uplifted by God, in ways which is not humanly possible. However since the scaffolding of the fruit is self-control, the patience cannot be without check, because you'll end up practicing patience in areas which require decisive action. For instance, you cannot be patient when someone is being physically attacked, and only act after the person has been killed becuase you're "patient" with the attacker. You cannot practice gentleness in areas where love would have act harshly, and with the picture of Chirst, you cannot live with Peace in yourself with things God never lived in peace with. When someone is openly living like a heathen yet claiming to be one of His disciples, we move from being at peace to being confrontational. At the core of the Fruit, is Love but this is not love of the world but of God, and as it's scaffolding the fruit as Self-control and more accurately as vessel at God's disposal which can be a hummer to crush or a needle to mend, it cannot be crushing everything in its way or stitching things which should be left to rot. We bear Fruit by God's Spirit and the Fruit has to align with the character of God, its not about us making people happy with how beautiful our fruit look. Or how gentle they feel when touched, or the fragrance they bring in love, and how the fruit doesn't just fall to the ground with every wind. While those are great qualities from of the Spirit are not and will never seek the approval of mankind. We should never try to align the fruit based on what people want,it should be based on what God wants and those who are after God will chase, those who aren't can plant their own trees and bear fruit for their master ⚓