Fruit

My garden is growing beautifully at the moment. I have potatoes, tomatoes, squash, peppers, and cucumbers in the ground. The combination of the warm nights, sunlit days, and water (either rain or from my well) are making them grow exactly the way I would wish. The plants look absolutely amazing. They look healthy. I am very pleased.

But here’s the thing. I am not growing these plants for their looks. I am growing them for the food. I want to eat my first tomato sandwich of the year. I want to put cucumbers on my salad. I want to make homemade pico de gallo with the peppers to put on shrimp tacos. And I want to eat the first batch of fried squash for supper. I enjoy watching the plants grow. But the measure of whether or not a garden is good is whether or not it produces food to eat.

Jesus once said that the same thing is true about humans, and especially about those who claim to be His followers. “You will know them by their fruit,” He declared in the midst of His Sermon on the Mount. Yes, you may call yourself a Christian. You may go to church every Sunday. You may wear a cross around your neck, and speak fluent “Christianese,” but if you do not produce fruit you are not doing what Jesus has called you to do.

And what is meant by this idea of fruit? Paul said, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” These are the traits that set us apart as the children of God. I pray that your life will display the fruit of the Spirit and that others will know that you belong to God by the fruit you produce in your life.