A Fruitful Life

A Fruitful Life
by Don Vess

Exhibiting the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives becomes more natural as we surrender our lives to the desires of the Spirit. What does that look like?

Say it with me: I am a spirit, I have a soul, and I live in a body! Say it again!

God has created us in three dimensions. We can allow any part of our being to dominate us. If I am totally Spirit, then I am somewhere up in the clouds, with no personality or ability to reason (soul), and unconcerned with the welfare of my physical body.

On the other hand, if I am dominated only by my body, I cater to its every desire and am motivated by the five senses: touch, see, taste, smell, and hear.
If I am soulish, I am strong-willed and selfish, dominated by what I think, what I will, and how I feel.

If I have a balance in my life, then, as a person who has been born again—born from above—I am developing a new way of thinking and becoming more concerned about what the Spirit within me desires to be and do.

Jesus gives us the formula for spiritual fruit production in our lives (John 15:1-8, NLT):

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t bear fruit and prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”

Fruit production is not something we should strive to do. It will come naturally as we submit ourselves to the nature of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Romans 8:5-16 (NLT) explains:

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you (and remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all). And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God…”

Who’s children are we? God’s! He has put His Spirit inside of us and given us the ability to live a life controlled by HIS Spirit—not by our own corrupt spirit or our soulish nature.

A good tree is known by its fruit, and likewise, a bad tree is also known by its fruit (Matt. 7:21-23, NLT):

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day, many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”

Galatians 5:13-21 (NLT) reminds us of the importance of living by the Spirit and lists both the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit:

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love…”

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

My brother-in-law Dan and my sister Evelyn Wright exemplified this passage of Scripture. They lived exemplary lives, known by their fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. So many people came to their funeral that it took three and a half hours to receive all the friends and family. What a testimony! They were unafraid to share the gospel with everyone, not only with words but through their actions, which spoke loudly.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said in an essay entitled “Social Aims,” “What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

Our lives speak! Our testimony is not just in what we say but in what we do.

When we stand before God on Judgment Day, we will be judged not only on what we have said but, more importantly, on what we have done.

Our words are important:
Proverbs 18:21 (NLT) says, “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”

But our actions speak even louder. Matthew 12:33, 35-37 (NLT) says:

“A tree is known by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad… You must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”

The Apostle Paul encourages us in Colossians 3:16-17 (NLT):

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father.”

James sums it up this way in James 2:14-20 (NLT):

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, ‘Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well’—but you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless…”