I have three fruit trees in my garden: two apple trees and one cherry tree. Thank God, this year the harvest was good, and I want to share the fruits of my trees with my friends. I never saw these trees struggle or make any extra effort to bear fruit. They produced fruit because they were created for it. Inside them flows the sap that brings forth fruit at the right time. None of them were jealous of the other, nor were they selfish. There was no evil in them, so to speak.
However, humans fight internal battles because of the evil within. How can we deal with our selfish desires?
Acknowledge your selfish and sinful nature: Don’t be surprised or too proud to admit it. This is what it means to surrender all your bad tendencies to Christ. It’s about repenting and confessing. Accepting the cross means recognizing that Jesus paid for sin and set us free from it. In this way, we can strip the enemy of his authority or legal right to harm us or manipulate us to harm others.
Commit your actions, thoughts, passions, and abilities to Christ, asking the Spirit to help you control your bad desires and reactions. Make serving others your top priority, which will help you become more like Jesus.
But the fruit that the Spirit produces in you is divine love in all its varied expressions: overflowing joy, peace that reigns, patience that endures, goodness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, kindness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never put the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. Galatians 5:22-23 (TPT)
Transformed people produce something special with their lives. Paul calls this fruit the new work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit spontaneously and creatively produces this type of fruit in us. He generates these character traits because we are becoming more like Jesus, who perfectly modeled them. When Christ controls us, these fruits grow and flow from us naturally. We can’t get them on our own without His help. If we want the fruit of the Spirit to grow in us, we must live in close union with Jesus, just as my trees are united with the soil that sustains them. We must submit to Him, know Him, love Him, remember Him, and imitate Him. As a result, we will fulfill the purpose of the law: to love God and our neighbor.
The goal of the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, is that we manifest that love to others, bringing them to the Love that is God. God is not the source of love; He is love. If we are connected to Him, we will bear much fruit effortlessly.
Written by Víctor Preza based on the sermon from 16/11/2024.
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