What Kind of Fruit do you produce?
Devotion taken from www.josh.org
When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control Galatians 5:22-23a, NLT).
What kind of fruit do these trees produce?
apple tree, orange tree, oak tree, banana tree, pear tree, peach tree, hickory tree, walnut tree, cherry tree, pineapple tree, pecan tree, mulberry tree
Too easy, right? The only answer that wasn’t totally obvious was acorns, which come from oak trees, right? After all, everybody knows that apples come from apple trees, and walnuts come from walnut trees.
Making right choices works the same way.
No matter how hard it tries, a cherry tree could never produce apples. No matter how much it wanted to, a pecan tree couldn’t squeeze out a single banana. Why not? Because they don’t have what it takes. Well, because we are sinners, none of us humans can make right choices all the time. Some days it seems like we can’t even make right choices at all! Why not? Because we don’t have what it takes to produce that kind of fruit--not by ourselves, at least. We might as well try to squeeze a pineapple out our ears! So, does that mean we should just give up?
No, but it does mean that the only way we can consistently make right choices is through the Spirit of Christ living in us. His Spirit lives in everyone who has trusted Christ for salvation, and it is only by relying on Him every day--through prayer and Bible reading--that we can consistently make right choices. In fact, you might say that making right choices is the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives when we trust God day by day.
Reflect: What kind of choices have you been making recently? Have they been sort of prickly, like a pineapple? Nutty, like an acorn? Sweet, like a cherry? Sour, like a crabapple? Something else? What kind of choices do you want to make from now on (with the Spirit’s help)?
When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control Galatians 5:22-23a, NLT).
What kind of fruit do these trees produce?
apple tree, orange tree, oak tree, banana tree, pear tree, peach tree, hickory tree, walnut tree, cherry tree, pineapple tree, pecan tree, mulberry tree
Too easy, right? The only answer that wasn’t totally obvious was acorns, which come from oak trees, right? After all, everybody knows that apples come from apple trees, and walnuts come from walnut trees.
Making right choices works the same way.
No matter how hard it tries, a cherry tree could never produce apples. No matter how much it wanted to, a pecan tree couldn’t squeeze out a single banana. Why not? Because they don’t have what it takes. Well, because we are sinners, none of us humans can make right choices all the time. Some days it seems like we can’t even make right choices at all! Why not? Because we don’t have what it takes to produce that kind of fruit--not by ourselves, at least. We might as well try to squeeze a pineapple out our ears! So, does that mean we should just give up?
No, but it does mean that the only way we can consistently make right choices is through the Spirit of Christ living in us. His Spirit lives in everyone who has trusted Christ for salvation, and it is only by relying on Him every day--through prayer and Bible reading--that we can consistently make right choices. In fact, you might say that making right choices is the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives when we trust God day by day.
Reflect: What kind of choices have you been making recently? Have they been sort of prickly, like a pineapple? Nutty, like an acorn? Sweet, like a cherry? Sour, like a crabapple? Something else? What kind of choices do you want to make from now on (with the Spirit’s help)?
posted by Royal | 6:36 AM
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