Fruit
Growing up I only knew strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, bananas, and melons as fruits that were edibble. Boy was I wrong. When Monika and I did a short-term missions trip to Costa Rican a few years ago we were introduced to fruits we never ate before.
We would stop at a roadside fruit stand and the local merchants were ever so willing to have us sample some of their more exotic fruits. There was passion fruit, rambutan, soursop, dragon fruit, and star apple to name a few. If you ever see any of these fruits in a store, do not be afraid to buy one, take it home and try it. It might be wise though to ask someone in the produce department how to prepare the fruit for eating. Your taste buds will be lit up.
Before I became a Christian, I knew nothing about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. As far as I was concerned, they did not exist because I was never introduced to them. Oh, I heard the word joy, but I only associated that with a Green Bay Packer win, a successful hunting or fishing trip, or a nice Christmas present.
Recently in our mixed Bible Study we studied Galatians 5:22-23 where the fruit of the Holy Spirit is listed. Noticed I used the singular, because that is how the Bible describes them, in the singular.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 6:22-23 NIV
When the Holy Spirit is in control of our lives, we get not one but all “such things.” Those virtues are not something I feel momentarily, but they define who I am as a person.
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