Fruitful Living

Fruitful Living

A couple of years ago I wrote about the Fruits Of The Spirit. The Bible tells us that Christians should be producing fruit in their lives. The book of Galatians lists nine different traits that every Christian should be displaying in some form or another.

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control...”

The idea of bearing fruit is based on the idea that Christians are not supposed to just sit and watch the world go by. The truth is that the world can be a really tough place. Every one of us has friends or family whose lives have been marred by drugs, alcohol, sexual abuse, violence, crime, death, sickness or any number of things.

This is why the Bible describes the world as dark. Darkness expresses itself in these kinds of destructive behaviors and they are everywhere in our world, even right in our own communities.

The Christian, however, is to be different from the world. The child of God is supposed to be a beacon of light. The world needs us to be so. Without God’s light the world embraces this darkness. Jesus came to bring light to a dark world and you are that light!

Yes, you. You are His light to the world. Your actions and words are supposed to impact people and give them hope.

Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

How do we do that? What are the good works that is Jesus talking about? Tomorrow, let’s look at the primary fruit that you and I should be exhibiting every day ... love.