For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. [Luke 6:43-44 (ESV)]
My son has a beautiful pomegranate tree in his yard but, when he first purchased the property, he didn’t know what it was. Although showy red flowers eventually appeared, it wasn’t until the flowers developed into deep-red globe-shaped fruit that he knew it was a pomegranate. The tree was recognized by its fruit and it is by our fruit that Christ’s followers are recognized.
We tend to think of the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control) as nine different fruits—like a basket containing an orange, apple, kiwi, pineapple, grape, blueberry, banana, apricot, and mango. The Greek word used by Paul, however, was karpos and it was singular. Rather than describing nine different kinds of fruit, the Apostle was listing nine different characteristics of one fruit—the fruit of God’s grace working in us.
Along with having a delicious flavor that is both sweet and tart, the characteristics of a pomegranate’s fruit include its bright red color, hundreds of juicy edible seeds, being rich in powerful antioxidants called polyphenols, and containing fiber, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins E and K. Just as all of its characteristics are contained in a single pomegranate fruit, all nine of its virtues are contained in the Fruit of the Spirit. After all, even non-believers can love, exhibit patience, or use self-control at times, but it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome our sin nature and possess love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control all at the same time! These gracious dispositions should be found in the hearts of all who have the Holy Spirit living in them and they should be evident in the lives of all who claim to follow Jesus!
Fruit, however, has to grow and mature. After planting, it takes three to six years before a pomegranate is mature enough to develop a few small fruits. It takes another three to six years before the tree bears a proper harvest. Even then, the fruit doesn’t appear all at once. After the tree flowers, it takes six to seven months for the fruit to develop and ripen. Being reborn takes only a moment but becoming a Christian takes a lifetime. Like a fruit tree, we need to grow and mature before we bear good fruit and, like the pomegranate, our fruit needs time to ripen.
While my son’s tree produces ripe fruit between August and November, we are expected to bear the Fruit of the Spirit all year long! As with my son’s pomegranate tree, it is by our fruit that we are recognized. It identifies us as followers of Christ and, if our fruit doesn’t look a lot like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, there’s a problem! We’re like a diseased plant that bears only rotten fruit or no fruit at all!
Although the Spirit does the planting of this fruit, we are the ones who must tend the garden by weeding out the sin that threatens its health, fertilizing it with God’s word and prayer, and watering it with worship and fellowship. Without staying connected to the Lord, we’ll be like a broken branch from the pomegranate tree—unable to bear fruit. A Christ follower’s fruit comes from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ; it comes from staying connected to the vine.
The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus. [Hudson Taylor]
Devotions of the Heart 