Fruit is on my mind these days. I love fruit: a crisp apple, juicy peach, filling banana, refreshing grapes, or a sweet orange. When I think of fruit, I think of refreshment, nourishment, color, and aroma, among other things. Fruit is for us to eat and enjoy. It feeds our body.
God’s fruit feeds our souls. Scripture tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). I imagine the tree of life in the garden of Eden with lots of fruit hanging from it. Was it just one kind of fruit? Revelation 22:1, 2 states, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
I like to envision the fruit on the Tree of Life as the fruit of Galatians 5:23-24: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. God’s fruit is hanging from the branches; it is accessible and ready to eat. Like all food, it is only nourishing when we eat it. This fruit, when eaten daily, is healing, not just for us but also for those who are in our lives.
It is easy to succumb to the junk food of fear and discontent, and then pass it on to our families and friends through our words and social media posts. When we read what seems to be daily reports of senseless killings: a congresswoman and her husband, children at school, a political activist, and wars in faraway places it is easy to give into despair. With each event, I want to crawl under the covers. But we are called by Christ to another response. We are told to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, and by implication, for those who persecute others. God’s word reminds us that our ways are not His ways. We are to nourish ourselves with the fruit of God’s spirit and to disperse the seeds of His fruit: the seeds of love, faith, joy, kindness, peace, etc. Not in our own strength but in complete dependence on God’s provision. He is our strength, our courage, our hiding place, not our bedcovers.
The truth is, we can’t control the actions of others, but we can control ours. We must choose what fruit we will feed our hearts and minds. Will we choose to feed our fear or feed our faith? Will we choose love over hate? Joy in the promises of God or despair? Self-control over retribution?
It’s easy to dwell on the evil and ugliness we often witness in the world. We can lose sight of the many people who are feeling frightened, insecure, and unloved. What will we feed them? Will we come alongside them? Encourage and lift their spirits. Will we share the everlasting love of God who gave His son for them? The God who proved He has the power over death when He raised Jesus from the dead?
This time we have on earth is a vapor in the light of eternity. Every day, we make decisions —both conscious and unconscious— about the thoughts that take hold of us and control us, as well as the food we choose to nourish our heart and soul.
According to Britannica, the principal purpose of the fruit is the protection and dissemination of the seed. Spiritually, it is the same. When we consume the fruit of His Spirit, we protect our heart and mind and spread His good seed.
What are you eating these days? What are you feeding your spirit? Is it the crispness of joy? The comfort of peace that passes all understanding? What seed are you spreading? Is it the saving love of Jesus? The touch of kindness that ministers to a weary soul?
This month I encourage you to eat the good fruit of Jesus and pass on those seeds to help others grow the nourishing fruit of the Spirit.
Blessings,
Join Me in Prayer
Lord, you have given me the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit to dwell in me. But so often my earthly mind with my earthly thoughts takes over. Forgive me. Help me to feed my spirit with your refreshing and nourishing fruit. Remind me that I am continually spreading seeds that either reflect me or reflect you. I want to reflect you in all I do, think, and speak. Amen.
Scripture for Meditation
Isaiah 55: 8-9 NKJV – For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways.
Matthew 5:43-46 ESV – You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
1 Peter 3:9 NIV – Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
2 Timothy 1:7 BSB – For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
Music for Reflection
Nice post, Dyann!