Horticulture

Galatians 5:22-23
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.

I know that we have all seen produce at the supermarket. Oranges, apples, pears, tomatoes, and various other fruits and vegetables are made available for us to pick through, throw in our carts, and purchase for consumption. But is that how we get the fruit of the Spirit?

I’m guessing that everyone has also seen an apple tree at some point in their life. Perhaps you’ve even had the pleasure of going apple picking in the fall. Have you ever taken an apple to the tree and tried to hang it from a branch? Now there’s an absurd thought. Who in their right mind would ever try to put fruit back on a tree? Fruit is given from the tree, not placed on the tree!

But this is what we are taught in most circles: that we need to take this fruit of the Spirit and place it in (or on, for metaphorical purposes) ourselves so that it can become a part of us. This is simply an impossible task. We can’t put on joy or peace. We can put on an act and seem joyful or peaceful, but the truth is we’re just posers when we do that. A legalistic approach to Christianity, however, tells you that you have to practice these things, because putting them on and wearing them around will morph them into part of who you are. Believing like that is as ridiculous as thinking we could walk up to a pine tree and hold an apple on it for some unknown period of time until that apple sprouts roots and becomes part of the tree, and thus turns a pine tree into an apple tree.

The truth about fruit is that it grows from a seed. An apple tree is planted, grows, and matures to bear fruit (apples, to be exact). That fruit is harvested and used by the farmer to feed the people. And inside each piece of fruit, whether purchased or given to a person, is another seed with the potential to become a tree itself and someday bear fruit. The same holds true for the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ.

In Mark 4 Christ speaks about a farmer sowing seeds and the crops that he yields. Later He explains that the seeds are the word of God, the gospel message. (Mark 4:14 “The farmer sows the word.”) The moment we received the message of Christ’s grace, a seed sprang forth roots inside of us and a tree of Spiritual fruit began to mature. As we grow in our walk with Jesus and our personal understanding of His grace and finished work at the cross, we will begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit. The more we recognize that it is grace alone that has given us eternal life and favor in the eyes of God, the more healthy, diverse and abundant our fruit will become until we eventually yield a bountiful crop of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The point is that we did nothing except to grow in our understanding of Jesus in order to produce the fruit of His Spirit.

The fruit we yield will then be used by God, the farmer, to feed the nations. Others will devour our Spiritual fruit, and the seed of Christ’s grace that it’s wrapped around will begin to sprout a new tree. That’s true spiritual horticulture!