The Fruits Of The Spirit

The Fruits of the SpiritColossians 1:9-10 “For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.”I was at a conference this weekend on Saturday, and the speaker, Walter Matthews, talked about this verse. He started with verse 10, “So that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.” I like this verse as it talks about bearing fruit in every good work as you grow in the knowledge of God.  However, I thought verse 9 was important as it says that they were praying they would all be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  I think this is the key to the verse 10.  If we don’t have wisdom and knowledge, then I believe we will struggle to bear fruit with our work.  Do you know what it means to bear fruit in your life or in your work?  I am fairly new to this concept, so in case anyone else listening is like me, I will explain.  Bearing fruit is another way to look at the outcome of the things you are doing.  Are they good vs. bad?  Are you getting good results at work?  Do you feel good, do others around you feel good after interacting with you? What about at home?  Are you happy with who you are at home? Are others happy with who you are at home? Is your home and your family growing in a positive way? These would all be good fruits.When we want to judge if something is truly from the Holy Spirit, we look for the fruits of the Spirit in our work. There are nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. My mom actually got me a box set of books that talked about each of these fruits of the Spirit. It was cool to read about them each in more depth. One day when I was talking to my spiritual director, actually the first day with this spiritual director, he said something that helped me realize I could use these fruits as a gauge to see how I was doing in life.  I can’t remember what he even said, and yet I remember a lightbulb went off in my head.I am constantly wondering if what I am doing is pleasing the Lord. Am I getting this thing called life, right?  Am I hearing what He is saying to me, and am I doing the things He is asking me to do?  These are questions we should all ask ourselves from time to time.  I tend to ask myself this often. After speaking with my spiritual advisor, I realized I could look at my life and see where the fruits of the Holy Spirit are showing up.  For instance, where in my life can I see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? If I am seeing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, then I am doing something right.  When I look at my life, I do see the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  The extent to which we see them in our lives can be an indication of how well we are doing walking with God if we have a lot of love in our lives, a lot of peace and joy, if we have a lot of patience in our lives, along with kindness and goodness.  If we have faithfulness, gentleness & self-control, then we are probably doing pretty good. There are things that can also show us the areas we need to work on improving. For instance, lately, I have been struggling with self-control.  I used to be doing pretty well, and now I struggle more with it.The fruits of the Spirit are not something that we can earn with our own efforts.  The fruits of the Spirit increase when we live according to the Holy Spirit.  The more we listen to the Holy Spirit, the more we do as we feel the Holy Spirit is leading us to do, and the more we will exhibit these fruits.