The Fruit of the Spirit: Truly the breakfast of Champions - God’s Men
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
These elements of Character are called the Fruit of the Spirit because the longer the Spirit indwells the Christian and works within him the more evidence of these character traits will come to light. Why? Because they are the character traits of Christ. And the Spirits mission here is to conform us to the image of God’s son, Jesus Christ. As it says in Romans 8:29, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; …” How does this process take place, this process of Sanctification? Romans 8:13 puts it this way: “for if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” The Spirit, I believe, works with conscience to identify for us the sins that stand between ourselves and God the Father and perfect harmony with Him. Then we, awakened by conscience, work with the Spirit to rid ourselves of those sins. It’s a process that takes more than our lifetime and only God finishes when we finally dwell with Him.
Although interwoven, interdependent, and possessing a rudimentary hierarchy, they can be examined and understood individually, much like the parts of a man’s body can be understood the same way, yet they work and grow together.
