The Acts of the Flesh

In reading Galatians 5:19-26 today, Paul listed out the acts of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. One thing that jumped out at me is that the acts of the flesh are things that you do, while the fruit of the Spirit are things that grow within you. The one is a decision the other is a byproduct of your life. One comes as a decision to go and do whatever we want, while the other comes naturally as we grow in Christ.

As I was thinking about this, I saw that the acts of the flesh are like a vine which grows on anything it can attach itself to. It goes which ever way it desires, and if left alone

will quickly and entirely cover whatever it has chosen as it's host, devouring it in the process. A tree however is different, in that it grows roots deep into the earth, growing for a while before developing its fruit.

And that is what the acts of the flesh are like. If left unchecked, they will cover and totally consume our lives. Think of the man who starts to indulge in just a little pornography, it will not stop there unless he quits at the beginning. If he stays with it, the need for pornography will grow and grow until he finds himself looking at things that are truly heinous. His need has grown to the point that just a little skin won't satisfy him. And it grows so quickly, just like a vine.

While the fruit of the Spirit is something to be developed and cultivated in our lives, much like a real fruit tree. In order for the tree to properly grow and begin to produce fruit it takes time. This is something that most of us don't want in our lives, we want it to happen quickly. We live in this fast paced, give it to me now and let me have it my way society which unfortunately works contrary to the ways of the Kingdom of God.

Not only does it take time for the fruit of the Spirit to grow in our lives, but there is also a pruning that needs to take place in order for the fruit to grow bigger in our lives. Pruning is a cutting away of the branches that are keeping the fruit from developing. And this happens in our spiritual lives as well. God will in fact work on us like a master gardener works on his fruit trees, cutting away the things in our lives that we really don't need and that are keeping us from getting the "Sonlight" that we do need.

This pruning or purging of things in our lives that are not needed is not always pleasant, but it is needful. And if we will allow God to do this for us, we will end up in a much better place, and with much more of the fruit of the Spirit showing. This can seem to be hurtful at times, but just know this, nothing that the Father does in bringing us more like the image of His Son Jesus, is ever a bad thing.

I want to bear the fruit of the Spirit in my life, and not be a vine that just takes and devours all that it has attached itself to, even if there is a little pain in the process of allowing the Lord to do prune me once in a while. Well there it is folks, get 'em up, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom today!