It’s time to wrap up our series entitled Hold On to Your Fruit! I hope you have enjoyed the journey with me.
There’s a Thai restaurant in our town which my husband and I frequent. The food is delicious, prices are reasonable, and the atmosphere is cozy. We eat there at least twice a month. I order my favorite entrée every time, and Ed occasionally tries something new. In addition to our entrées, we almost always order two appetizers … summer rolls and shumai.
We goofed one evening and ordered spring rolls. They’re fried—at least the ones at this particular restaurant—so you can’t see what’s inside until you bite into the roll. Fried in hot oil, the outside is crispy and the inside is cooked. They are yummy, but I don’t think they are as healthy, or as tasty, as the raw version.
The Thai summer roll is transparent. Rolled inside the rice paper are fresh, raw vegetables and shrimp which are detectible through the clear covering. If you’re making summer rolls at home, you can also make them with fresh fruit.
When my son was young, he liked Fruit Roll-Ups. I don’t think the roll-ups contained much nutritional value, and actual fruit content was little to none. The wrapper presented images of fruit. The roll-up smelled like fruit. But the product was missing the real thing. So, even when my son unrolled the sweet snack, there was no discernable fruit.
The fruit of the Spirit within us is sometimes undetectable. We talk about our fruit. We might even exude a fruity fragrance. Yet, when it comes to demonstrating our fruit to others, it is nowhere to be found.
Like a summer roll filled with clearly visible, healthy ingredients, we want our spiritual fruit wrapped up within us, yet visible for others to see. How do we hold on to our fruit and make it available to others at the same time? I think the only way we can do that is to “live by the Spirit” and “keep in step with the Spirit,” as the Apostle Paul talks about in Galatians 5:25 (NIV).
Paul says the fruit of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5:22-23, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The fruit of the Spirit—when properly wrapped and held fast with the love of God—is pleasing to the eye and ready for action.
Did you notice what Paul mentions first in the list above? Love. I think there’s a reason he mentions love first. It is the one thing that unifies the rest. Without love, everything else falls short. In his rebuke to the people of Corinth, Paul conveys to us in 1 Corinthians 13 that without love we are merely a loud noise. We are nothing. We gain nothing. He tells us that “Love is patient, love is kind … Love never fails.” Paul is not talking about a feeling. He is talking about action.
Our love for God and for others grows out of our genuine and impassioned devotion to God. That’s how God loves us, too. He is passionate about us. He is devoted to us. His love for us endures forever.
The kind of love in 1 Corinthians 13 is expressed, experienced, and evident. We’re not talking about personal feelings here. We’re talking about action … people extending love to others.
Stories in the Hold On to Your Fruit! series told of individuals serving others in love, demonstrating patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness toward others. They delivered hope to people in need, found joy in a difficult time, and prayed for peace in the midst of troubled times. Patiently, selflessly, people demonstrated love by their fruit—wrapped up, clearly visible, and active.
Is your fruit …
- transparent like a summer roll,
- fried crisp like a spring roll, or
- undetectable like a Fruit Roll-Up?
What steps will you take to Hold On to Your Fruit and, at the same time, actively demonstrate your fruit to others?
Heavenly Father,
Teach me to love others as you have loved me. I pray that my fruit is transparent and ready for action at all times, and that your love will be evident in my words and my deeds. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
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