The Fruit of the Spirit (Part 1)

Bible Reading: Galatians 5:16-26

“Maddie!” Lynn called to her sister as she inspected her four tiny tomato plants. “Look, little green tomatoes!” This was Lynn’s very first time growing a garden, and she was very excited.

Maddie smiled. “See? You just needed to have patience.” Maddie was almost fourteen and had helped their mother grow vegetable gardens before.

“Look at those shrimpy tomatoes!” a voice taunted from next door. “We had tomatoes on our plants weeks ago.” The voice came from Keith, their neighbor, who was always mocking Lynn. He and his mother also had a garden. They had bought their plants already half grown, and they were now full of fruit.

Maddie put her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Ignore him. Yours are growing just fine. Now that they’re starting to get fruit, we should name them. That’s what Mom and I do with our plants each year.”

“What should we name them?” Lynn asked.

“Well, tomatoes are fruit,” said Maddie. “And the Bible tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

“So the fruit of the Spirit is all those things?” Lynn asked.

“Yep,” said Maddie. “And when we accept Jesus into our lives, it grows in us just like your tomatoes grow in your garden.”

“But we only have four plants,” said Lynn.

“Well, we can just choose four as names,” said Maddie. “And the first one should definitely be Patience, to remind you to have patience as the tomatoes grow.”

Lynn giggled. “Okay, and we’ll name the second one Joy because I will be full of joy when they finally do!”

“What about the next one?” Maddie asked, enjoying the game.

“The next one can be Goodness, because the tomatoes will be full of yummy goodness,” said Lynn. “Now I’ve named two and you named one, so you have to name the last one.”

“The last one should be Love,” said Maddie. “Because nothing grows without love.”

Lynn smiled. “Now all four of our fruit of the Spirit plants have names.”

“Yep,” said Maddie. “And they’re going to keep growing just like the fruit of the Spirit is growing in you.” – Kristin Beaven

How About You?

Did you know that, if you’re a Christian, you have fruit growing in your life? Just like fruit in a garden is the result of the gardener’s hard work, when we give our lives to Jesus, He begins to work in our hearts so that His ways begin to grow in us. What fruit has He been producing in your life?

Today’s Key Verse: Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (CSB)

Today’s Key Thought:

God grows fruit in Christians’ lives