The Fruit of the Spirit: God’s Work, Not Ours

Yesterday during our worship service I challenged us to identify one fruit of the Spirit that stood out to you personally.  It may be a quality that you struggle with. It could be one that you are intrigued by or simply want more of it. We were encouraged to pray this week that God would develop that fruit in our lives more fully.  Here’s the list: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

I’m convinced that neither you nor I can generate any of these qualities within ourselves.  They’re called the fruit of the Spirit for a reason.  They’re not the fruit of you or me.  God produces these things in our lives.  Our job is to cooperate with God’s work. Our job is to pray and be open to how God will generate and develop this fruit.  It takes the pressure off, doesn’t it? Less pressure. More fruit.