Fruit Reveals

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” – Galatians 5:22

Some leaves are distinctive enough to identify the type of tree they come from: the maple, or gingko, perhaps. Flowers or cones are even more indicative. But the most symptomatic thing a tree can display is fruit: an apple cannot be borne by anything other than an apple tree, and an apple tree cannot bear anything except apples. The inner workings of the tree, its true identity, was there all along, nothing has changed: but the moment the apples appear, the tree declares its nature.

A. W. Tozer writes, “Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. The fruit of a tree is determined by the tree, and the fruit of life by the kind of life it is. What a man is interested in to the point of absorption both decides and reveals what kind of man he is; and the kind of man he is by a secret law of the soul decides the kind of fruit he will bear. The catch is that we are often unable to discover the true quality of our fruit until it is too late! Of what do we think when we are free to think of what we will? What object gives us inward pleasure as we brood over it? Over what do we muse in our free moments? To what does our imagination return again and again? When we have answered these questions honestly we will know what kind of persons we are, and when we have discovered what kind of persons we are we may deduce the kind of fruit we will bear. If we would do holy deeds we must be holy men and women!”

As a Chinese philosopher once said, “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character.” Our thoughts, the things that most absorb our attention and mental energy, both determine and reveal who we are and thus what kind of fruit we will bear. Paul lays it out clearly: walk by the Spirit, and you will bear the fruit of the Spirit. Walk by the flesh, and you will bear the fruit of the flesh. The fruits he lists on either side are both actions and character traits. If you want to know why your character or your actions are the way they are, trace it back to how you “walk,” how you functionally direct your life, what you think on. And this is worth tracing, because we’re not always aware of it. Of what do we think when we are free to think of what we will? What object gives us inward pleasure as we brood over it? Over what do we muse in our free moments? To what does our imagination return again and again?