The Fruit of the Spirit: Introduction

Written By Melvin Jones

How do you want to live your life? If you are a Christian, you have a choice. You can live with strife, jealousy, anger, arguments, dissensions, and immorality, and all that these will produce in a life. Or you can live your life in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do you choose to live your life in anger, doing only as you please, hurting others, and building a sad legacy for those who will follow? Or do you want to live in such a way that people won't breathe a sigh of relief once you die?

Over the next several weeks, I would like to talk about the difference between experiencing the fruit of the Spirit in your life and experiencing life as it usually is for most of us. But first, what, exactly, is the fruit of the Spirit? And what spirit are we talking about?

The spirit we are referring to is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead. In the many translations of the Bible He is called the Comforter (John 15:26), the Spirit of God (Matthew 3:16), or just the Spirit (Romans 8:16). The Spirit is sent by the Father to live in our hearts and while there, He guides us in what we should do and how we should think (Romans 8:14).

As we are obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit, as we study the Bible and depend on God's Spirit to lead us and transform us, our lives take on qualities that reflect the character of God (Romans 12:1-2). In other words, our lives begin to bear fruit that has certain qualities. And those qualities are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Over the next several weeks, we will take a look at each aspect of the fruit of the Spirit and see what it looks like as it is expressed in the life of a believer. We will look at the cost to the believer in developing the nine qualities listed above. We will also look at the benefit to the believer and to those around him or her. Finally, we look at the benefit to the rest of the body of Christ as each of us is obedient and, in submission to God, develops the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.