Fruit of the Spirit

“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5)

Paul tells us to “walk in the Spirit,” and he lists the fruit as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. How do we bring about the fruit of the Spirit? John answers this in chapter 15, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” So, we see that apart from “me” (God), you can do nothing. Nothing. All through the centuries, anything good and great that’s ever been done has been done through the Christ, through God, through listening and obeying His voice.

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” (Psalm 127:1) It cannot be built. Things might look glorious for a while and wonderful when built by man, but eventually it comes to naught; that is everything. Bringing about the fruit of the Spirit comes from abiding in God. This means listening to God, abiding in the consciousness of the Christ, and staying in the Father’s House. To abide requires quietness of thought. To abide means to stay there, not in and out periodically. This listening and abiding is most important because without it, you can do nothing. I used to think the fruits of the Spirit were something I could do myself. I would try to be peaceful. I would try to be loving and longsuffering. I tried to be all those things.

I learned that you become those things as you abide in the Spirit, as the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, takes over. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Miscellany on page 150, “A heart touched and hallowed by one chord of Christian Science, can accomplish the full scale; but this heart must be honest and in earnest and never weary of struggling to be perfect — to reflect the divine Life, Truth, and Love. Stand by the limpid lake, sleeping amid willowy banks dyed with emerald. See therein the mirrored sky and the moon ablaze with her mild glory. This will stir your heart. Then, in speechless prayer, ask God to enable you to reflect God, to become His own image and likeness, even the calm, clear, radiant reflection of Christ's glory, healing the sick, bringing the sinner to repentance, and raising the spiritually dead in trespasses and sins to life in God. Jesus said: ‘If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’”

This comes about through stillness, quietness, reflection, abiding, and letting go of any personal sense of doing anything, because on your own you can do nothing. We need humility because you can’t do it on your own. We have all tried to; I certainly have, many times, and fallen on my face trying to do something on my own rather than through reflection and abiding. So, whatever you’re doing, always ask yourself, “Where is God in this? Am I abiding in Him? Am I listening?” There’s a voice always speaking to you, guiding you, and telling you what to do if you are quiet and listening.