Fruit vs. Works

Have you ever seen a plant struggle to produce fruit? Imagine seeing a pecan tree stressing out about growing more pecans. That seems insane. Yet it simply does what it was created to do. It receives the water and sunlight then continues to grow. What sometimes can be missed is the difference between fruit and works. In the passage about the fruit of the Spirit it also talks about the works of the flesh. Nothing in the Bible is meaningless. When God placed these groups of good and bad deeds, He named one group, “fruit” and the other group, “works”. The truth is that in and of ourselves, we cannot produce good works. It is the Spirit of God that causes us to have goodness and self-control.

The book of Galatians reads, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness” (Galatians 5:19). Notice these sins are labeled as, “works.” On the contrary when the Bible talks about good deeds in this passage, it is labeled as “fruit.” Paul tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23). When we try to make it about us, we fall into works. When we place our faith in Christ, we produce fruit. This whole chapter in Galatians is about freedom. It is because of freedom that we can produce good fruit.

Remember it is the fruit of the Spirit. It is not the fruit of me. It is about how God is love, He is full of joy, and Christ is our peace. The fruit of the Spirit is all a description of who God is. Sit under the waterfall of God’s forgiveness and watch your life change. We can grow the fruits of the Spirit by resting in God’s finished work. When we rely too much on ourselves, we will become burdened. Instead place your faith in Christ and watch Him produce fruit.