fruit

Fruit is produced out of the overflow of the identity of the where it comes from. An apple tree doesn’t produce oranges. It’s painfully obvious, but we have to come back to these basic realities in contexts where we can all recognize them to help us sort through what seems like such a complicated mess in our contexts today.

I may see a lot, but I cannot see everything. I cannot discern every thought and intention in a person’s heart, nor is that my role. I have enough trouble trying to figure out what’s in my own heart sometimes! 

But we can all see fruit that is produced.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law!

The fruit of patterns and habits adopted apart from who we are in Christ are obvious! They are hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, envy, sexual immorality (notice is doesn’t categorize which kind or what type of relationship… all impurity is included), and more.

You can see the difference can’t you? You can see it played out, right? In our own hearts. In the lives of those we love. In our communities. In structures around us.

Where it can get confusing sometimes is that God may use things that are really messed up to still accomplish His purposes because He loves us and is pursuing our hearts even when we are running. And in fact, none of us is above anything and are completely messed up apart from Him. We have to remember to look beyond the headlines of God honoring His name and look to the sidelines to see the fruit on the periphery… in our own lives first. 

And then when we’re trying to sort through life and seasons and headlines and relationships… it would serve us well to take a moment, step back, and look at the fruit. And look at the fruit on the periphery.