Fruit Basket

If you were given the task of bringing fruit for someone, where would you go, and what would you get? You might run to a fruit stand or a grocery store and bring back anything from apples and bananas to guavas and mangos. In John 15:16 Jesus told His disciples to bring fruit, but He wasn’t referring to that which grows on trees.

The fruit Jesus was referring to are the character traits that should be evident in the lives of every believer. The Holy Spirit of God will do the cultivating, and that is why Paul referred to these traits as the fruit of the Spirit.

In Galatians 5:22-23 we see that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, [and] temperance.” But too often as Christians we are guilty of saying things like, “I’m just not a patient person.” We aren’t supposed to accept the fact that this fruit isn’t evident in our lives; this isn’t a “pick and choose” situation like a buffet. It is all or nothing.

Don’t think of the fruit of the Spirit as different options available to you (“I have love, you have joy, etc.), but think of it as a fruit basket, where every believer should have each trait available for his life.