The “rich-in-Love” yet “not-very-obvious” FRUIT of the Spirit…!

Let’s read Galatians 5:19-25; 1 Corinthians 13:13; John 1:11-13

“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit”

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love”

“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”

The acts of the flesh are very obvious – it virtually takes no time to point a finger out at someone caught yielding to the desires of the flesh. One look at a smoker puffing out smoke sends an obvious signal to the people around that the smoker has yielded to the fleshly desire of smoking, although it is known to be hazardous to health.  One look at a drunken husband, verbally and physically abusing his wife sends an obvious signal to the people around that the husband has yielded to the fleshly desire of unrighteous anger, rage and violence.

The opposite of “The acts of the flesh” is not “The acts of the Spirit”. To negate man’s filthy-rags-like righteousness, God imparted and imputed unto us Christ’s righteousness. And this heavenly righteousness is analogically referred to as the “FRUIT of the Spirit”. Many Christians incorrectly refer to this as the “FRUITS” of the Spirit. It is a singular kind of FRUIT and not multiple types of FRUITS. However, a fruit contains many parts in it – pulp, core, skin, seed, stalk etc. Similarly, the FRUIT of the Spirit constitutes the following - love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The pulp of the Fruit of the Spirit is LOVE…..!!  

While the acts of the flesh are obvious, the Fruit of the Spirit is not obvious. Only those with a humble heart focused on God and a mind with an eternal perspective can praise the Fruit-giver for the marvellous and appreciable Fruit which is one-of-a-kind.

The Fruit of the Spirit was first revealed in and through Jesus Christ. Even today, only a remnant of the masses   of people believes in Him because the Fruit of the Spirit is not “obvious”.

If you have truly received the Fruit-giver as your personal Lord, then you will not seek the obvious but the unknown/unfathomable yet spiritually tangible FRUIT of the Spirit….!