The blood orange slipped from my fingers, destined for my feet. I swooped it up off the floor, rinsed it, and continued peeling. Seconds later, it slipped out of my hand again. This time, I caught it against my leg before it made it to the ground.
Hold on to your fruit.
As I said the words out loud, I tugged the last bit of peel from the orange. That’s when the thought struck me, “God is probably telling me to hold on to my fruit.”
Picture a bowl filled with scrumptious fruit of all kinds: shiny red apples, oranges, fuzzy peaches, plump plums, green pears, purple grapes—all sorts of fresh fruit—and think how awful it would be to let that delicious fruit splatter on the floor rather than delight your palate. Or worse, to let it sit there and rot.
There’s another kind of fruit – the fruit Paul talks about in Galatians, chapter five: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Just as we want delicious, juicy tree fruit to nourish our bodies, God wants us to satisfy our hunger with the fruit of the Spirit, delicious and juicy in its own way.
But holding on to the special fruit mentioned in Galatians is not always an easy thing to do. Some of us struggle with all of the pieces, and others of us battle with only some. Whether one or many, we need to get a grip.
It is easy to love the lovable, easy to have joy when things are going well, easy to find peace when all is going as planned and everyone is behaving as we think they should.
It is painless to be patient when we don’t have to wait on anyone else, when we don’t have any expectations, when we receive everything on time, and when everyone responds according to our hopes.
It is effortless to show kindness when we are in a good mood and the waiter gets our order correct the first time and the cashier sends us off with a smile, plus some change.
You get the point.
But, what about those days when we wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Or the people we love the most have gotten on our last nerve? Or, we’re waiting for a job offer or the call from the doctor to schedule an unexpected surgery?
How do we hold on to our fruit when we’re walking a precarious tightrope?
The desires of our human nature do not naturally cling to the fruit of the Spirit. Yet, if we want to follow Jesus, we have to follow His example. Jesus walked according to His Father’s plan. And if we follow the example Jesus set, then we too need to follow the Father’s plan—and that is to live by His Spirit.
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25 NIV)
Therein lies the secret. Keep in step with the Spirit.
Step up to the Father, join him. He will meet you wherever you are. Step in to Jesus. Sit at his feet and learn from him. Then you’ll be prepared to step out with the Holy Spirit, to walk in the Spirit and live by the Spirit. Stay close. Stay connected.
Is your fruit slipping?
Come back next week and let’s explore the fruit of the Spirit together. We’ll break it into bite sized pieces so it’s easy to swallow and digest. See you soon.
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Hold On to Your Fruit! Patience
Hold On to Your Fruit! Kindness
Hold On to Your Fruit! Goodness
Nice job Paula,enjoyed it!
Thank you, Scott.