THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
A guest speaker at our monthly ladies fellowship meeting brought the following devotion:Bible Text Galatians 5:22,23
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
She made the following comparisons between the fruit of the Spirit and some edible fruits we know:
Love = Strawberries are sweet, red reminding us of the blood of Christ which demonstrated His love for us.
Joy = Watermelons are fun to eat.
Peace = Grapes, they just lay there resting. We can rest in the Lord.
Longsuffering = Bananas. We have to be patient while we peel them. "Also, a banana plant takes at least 18 months to make fruit."
Gentleness = Apples bruise easily like our testimony. We have to be gentle with other people.
Goodness = Pineapples are ugly outside but good inside. We can be good inside.
Faith = Oranges are not easy to peel. Life is not easy either, but we can make it by faith.
Meekness = Blackberries grow close to the ground. "They also have stickers. Life is sometimes uncomfortable, but that can keep us humble. "We should practice humility.
Temperance = Pears are balanced on one end. We need to practice self-control.
"There are over 200 references to the words fruit or fruitful in the Bible."
"The Bible speaks of the fruit of the righteous and the fruit of the wicked."Proverbs 10:16 The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
I leave you with one question today. What kind of fruit are you producing, Godly fruit or worldly fruit?
"I took the liberty to add the part in italics to the devotion."