What Kind of Fruit…?

By guest writer Tori Andrews

“Tor, do you think people know I’m a Christian? You know, like people who may not know — like my coworkers, for example?” my ever so curious husband asked me one day when he got home from work with a look of genuine perplexity across his face. Through laughter, I responded with, “Absolutely, J. Of course people know that about you.” I have to admit that my laughter was twofold — one, the question was completely random (true to form, ha!), but two, it was funny to me that he was so concerned about something that is so glaringly obvious.

He went on to ask me why I found that question so funny and what makes his faith so obvious to others, and I went on to tell him about how his frequent assertions of “All is well.” and “God is great!” as a response to how he’s doing to anyone that may ask probably has a lot to do with it (if you know Elijah, you know you’ll hear one of these during any given conversation). But beyond that, I told him how it doesn’t take long to pick up on how he’s “always happy”, his compassion for everyone from the most well-known to the least, and even his heart to serve and give freely to others. In other words, the way that he lives his life is pretty reflective of his belief and conviction.

Now, don’t get me wrong — this is not to say that this has always been the case, nor is it to say that he isn’t still growing (as we all are!) It is to say, however, that our lives, or our fruit, should be evident of our faith in God and clear to others who may or may not believe.

When we take a look at our lives, or when those close to us take a look at our lives, what would they be able to say about us based on the fruit we produce? This is not a charge to strive for perfectionism, but rather an encouragement to allow God into our hearts and ask Him to help us create a life that is more fruitful. I recognize that the tendency could be to think of “fruitful” in terms of material things, but I’m talking about the fruit that can often seem so hard to come by and sometimes fleeting when it does; I’m talking about the kind of fruit that we can only receive by allowing God in.

“22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

Galatians 5:22-23, NLT

So, my challenge is this: think about an area of your life that seems to be far off from what you would hope it to be, and ask yourself if there’s any room for you to practice any more of the nine fruits in the situation. See if you might begin approaching that situation differently and let me know how it goes! Don’t forget to be gracious with yourself along the way!

XO,

tja