But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (forbearance/patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:22-24)
As we strive to be wives who are pleasing to God, exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, it is important for us to inspect our fruit basket (our heart) to make sure that there is real fruit. We know that with every real thing there is a counterfeit, so we want to guard ourselves from producing fake fruit. There are tons of REALity shows on television, such as The REAL Housewives of Atlanta or LOVE and Hip Hop, and from the titles alone you would think they are displaying to the world how a wife should act or how true love is presented, but in actuality, this is NOT the case. A lot of them get divorces, engage in fornication or lustful relationships, cheat on their spouses/mates, and indulge in unnecessary acquisition of material things. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. If we really inspected the actions of the “wives” I think we could call them FAKE or change the title to LUST and Hip Hop.I am not judging anyone according to my standard; this is based on the word of God.In our claims to be wives of God, Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23 what the fruit should look like. When Paul used the word “fruit” he was looking for a word to accurately explain an outward showing of the inner work of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14 tells us that the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God, with the word son not being gender specific, but referring to our position as heir to the kingdom. So if we are sons of God (or wives of God), then we should be loving, peaceful, joyful, gentle, show goodness, and have self-control.
The production of the things above comes from our relationship with God. John 15:4-6 - "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.If we are going to interact and commune with our husband the way God has commanded us to, we must first be in right communion with God.What flows from Him, through us, will drive our actions.
Getting married was the best thing that happened to my relationship with Christ because it showed me that I didn’t have much of one. I gave my life to Christ at an early age, but I didn’t allow the Holy Spirit to lead me in my actions and decision making. I thought of myself to be a loving, joyful, and peaceful person. I prided myself on being able to forgive and move on in past situations. So, when the problems in my marriage begin to arise, and I had a hard time being patient with my husband or getting past hurtful things he had done, I begin to blame him. I blamed him for stealing my joy because I felt I had no reason to laugh again or stealing my peace because I was always fussing at him or worrying about things, I blamed him for changing me into a person I was not and did not want to be. I cried out to God and said, “Lord, this can’t be what you want me to do because since I have been with him, all of my good traits are gone.” After I poured my heart out, I thought sure God would give me a pass to leave, since this “bad man” had altered his “good daughter”. But, the response I received was interesting, I heard it plain as day in my spirit, “You never had those things. You had produced peace-like, joy-like, love-like fruit in your life, because you felt like that was what you were supposed to do. You didn’t let me develop the fruit in your life.” As tears were streaming down my face, I inspected my heart and could do nothing but agree with God.My husband wasn’t the problem, I was the problem. I had disconnected myself from the True Vine; I wasn’t praying, studying, devoting time to be in His presence; or surrounding myself with other wives of God.Over the years I tried to patch things myself and I had produced a basket full of fake fruit.I had traded true peace for not talking to my husband to avoid arguments; I had traded true love for lust-filled sex escapades as a method of making up; I had traded true joy with painting a smile on my face to cover up a hearting heart.I was FAKING it until I could make it, but the problem was nothing was happening, things were being torn apart.After I received my divine revelation and I purposed in myself to reconnect to the True Vine, things begin to turn for my good!
So, how do you know if the fruit in your basket is real of fake? Let’s take a look…
Fake Fruit is produced by man and Real Fruit is produced by God. I know most of us have seen the plastic fruit in a basket on grandma’s table; so if we can compare how that is produced to how real fruit is produced, we can literally say that real fruit is produced by God. I am not even trying to be spiritually deep. The production of real fruit is a natural process that we have nothing to do with. With real fruit, farmers plant the seed, water it, till the soil, and have FAITH that the fruit will come up at the right time. This goes for us as wives to; instead of trying to “make” everything and everyone in the home, exactly like we want them to be, we just need to plant the seed (the Word of God); water it (with prayer, fasting, and devotion); till the soil of our home (loving actions and kind words); and have the FAITH that fruit will bear itself when it is the right time.
Fake Fruit is cheap, but Real Fruit can be expensive. That is mainly why our grandmas had the plastic fruit in the bowls, because you could get the look of a fruit basket at a minimum cost. In order to see the fruit in ourselves and in our marriages that Paul was talking about in Galatians 5:22-23, it is going to cost us something. We, as wives, are going to have to make some sacrifices. We can’t say everything we want to say; or get everything we feel that we are due. Being a follower of Christ, and a wife of God, it’s going to cost us something. When we become a follower of Christ we give up the right to think about ourselves. Matthew 24:25 - Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Fake Fruit is not genuine and Real Fruit is genuine. I know you are probably saying DUH! However, how many times have we used the phrase, “I am just being real” as a license to go off on our husbands or present an attitude about something we didn’t agree with. Well, according to Galatians 5, that’s not being real, that’s actually being FAKE! And Lastly,
Fake Fruit has no benefits, but Real Fruit has a lot of benefits. Fruit is infused with health boosting nutrients, which has significant benefits. These nutrients help fight against certain diseases, are low-calorie, contributing to weight loss; and even can help skin and body care. However, if you bite into a piece of the plastic fruit, you would not get any of these benefits. This is also the case spiritually. In Galatians 5:19-21 Paul talks about the opposite of real fruit – adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. There is no reward for those things. However, in the Matthew 5:12 we are told to rejoice and be glad, because great is our reward in heaven! Not only will we get a heavenly reward, but we will also experience the earthly reward of a harmonious marriage, peace in the home, and blessings from God.
So, I encourage you to inspect your heart and respond to whatever you are shown. If you need to reconnect to the True Vine, do so quickly. Or, if what you see is good, keep producing the real fruit, being a model for others.
Love you all
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