The Fruit of the Spirit

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Is not this the life that we all long for, the Christlike life? But this life is not natural to us and is not attainable by us by any effort of what we are in ourselves. The life that is natural to us is set forth in the preceding verses: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings and such like” (Gal. 5:21).

All these works of the flesh will not manifest themselves in each individual; some will manifest themselves in one, others in others, but they have one common source – the flesh, and if we live in the flesh, this is the kind of a life that we will live. It is the life that is natural to us.

But when the indwelling Spirit is given control in the one He inhabits, when we are brought to realize the utter badness of the flesh and give up in hopeless despair of ever attaining to anything in its power, when, in other words, we come to the end of our­selves, and just give over the whole work of making us what we ought to be to the indwelling Holy Spirit, then and only then, does this fruit of the spirit become the fruit of our lives.

Do you wish these graces in your character and life? Do you really wish them? Then renounce self utterly and all its strivings after holiness, give up any thought that you can ever attain to anything really morally beautiful in your own strength and let the Holy Spirit, who already dwells in you, if you are a child of God, take full control and bear His own glorious fruit in your daily life. (R.A. Torrey).

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