But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Several years ago, when I was a pastor, I was getting ready to preach on the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Before I began the series, I was speaking with a fellow pastor, a man I greatly respected. I told him that I thought that I would approach the series like a staircase. The first fruit is love and then you get joy and then you get peace and then patience and so on. He gently corrected me and said that in the original language, the word for fruit (karpos) is singular, not plural. In other words, the Fruit of the Spirit is not nine different fruits such as oranges, strawberries, bananas, and pomegranates. It’s more like a cluster of nine grapes hanging on a branch in a vineyard.

This is an important distinction. We cannot pick and choose which character traits we get and try to gloss over the ones with which we struggle. The Holy Spirit of God is developing all these traits within the life of a believer at the same time. You cannot say, “I’m just not a very patient person. It’s just the way I am.” No! The Spirit of God who dwells within you is growing patience within you. Someone cannot say, “I have no self-control. I just can’t help myself.” No! The Holy Spirit is growing self-control within you.

Brothers and sisters, the problem isn’t that we are just the way we are. The problem is that we lose connection with the vine. Jesus said in John 15 that He is the vine and we are the branches. He is our source of nourishment and life. If we abide in Him and live by His Spirit, we will bear much spiritual fruit.

By Shawn Cornett