Walking With God – Evidence to Others
Galatians 5:22-23 “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.”
This is the final week of considering how our walk with God changes us. Last week we considered how that change has a very personal component. This week we move to consider how our walk with God ought to be evident to others. If we are truly changed, the changes ought to be evident to others who have an opportunity to observe us.
The familiar passage of scripture above speaks to the changes which should occur in our lives as we walk with the Spirit of God. The concept of the Spirit producing “fruit” gives us some insight to the changes we are to experience. The fruit will mean something to the tree upon which it is produced because it is a significant change from prior experience (i.e. prior to the experience of the Spirit). The concept revealed in the passage above is that the fruit now appearing did not appear before or, in the alternative, the fruit which did appear previously was of inferior quality.
The other concept that we focus upon this week is that the outside world can now tell what kind of a “tree” exists because of the nature and quality of the fruit which is now showing (and hopefully growing). Fruit is more often than not a visible sign to the outside world. It tells the outside world so much about the tree.
Among the things which fruit tells the world is that the tree is alive. Dead trees do not bear fruit. The opposite corollary is also true-live and healthy trees bear fruit. The presence of fruit is a sign of life and health.
The fruit also tells the nature of the tree. Apples do not grow on pear trees and vice versa. You can tell that you are seeing an apple tree by the apple fruit. The apple tree already knows that it is an apple tree but the outside world may not be able to tell until the fruit appears and then the question is settled.
These two principles relate to our walk with Christ. As we walk with Christ, “Christ” (or “Christ-like”) fruit is born. We will give evidence of our life in Christ and walk with Him by the presence of and nature of the fruit our lives exhibit. We can say that we are walking with Christ but if the fruit is not there then we are lying to ourselves and others. Our claims of walking with Him must be borne out by more than our word, it must be present in our fruit.
But the question remains: What is the “fruit” that needs to be seen by others in our lives which evidences a close walk with Christ? The answer comes from God through the words He gave His servant, Paul, to share with the churches in the Galatian region of Asia Minor. Let me repeat these words: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5: 22-23) Walking with Christ should produce this fruit in our lives.
Think with me this week about whether the fruit identified above is present in our lives. Next week we will look more closely at the “fruit of the Spirit” which is obtained by walking with Christ and which others should see in us.
Until then-be fruitful because you are walking with Christ.
eMullins
