Galatians 5:22-23 — But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 KJV)
So how’s the fruit production going? New fruit everyday? Or not …? 

So suppose you’re a bit like me. Anybody who’s read a few of these pieces knows that there’s a lot of time when some of my fruit is spotty, at best. Does that depress you? I don’t think you should let it. Let’s look at the fruit growing business for a bit.

For a start, no fruit grows without seeds being planted. We cannot plant the “seeds of the Spirit” in ourselves. That is God’s work. 

Next, no fruit will grow without time for the seeds to germinate. Charles Spurgeon says about this:

The text (Gal 5:22) speaks of “fruit,” and fruit comes only from a rooted abiding. It could not be conceived of in connection with a transient sojourning, like that of a traveler. The stakes and tent pins that are driven into the ground for a nomad’s tent bear no fruit, for they do not remain in one place. Inasmuch as I read of the “fruit of the Spirit,” I take comfort from the hint and conclude that He intends to abide in our souls as a tree abides in the soil when fruit is borne by it.

The fruit — not fruits because joy, peace, long suffering, and so on cannot be separated from each other — all start from the same seedling, from love. Without the blossoming of love the fruit cannot develop and come to maturity. The great commandments are to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor.

Why then is my fruit not fully maturity and always on display? Is it not because spiritual fruit, like any other fruit, has its season and must develop and grow to ripeness?

Even the fully mature Christian cannot just sit back and wait for fruit. God is going to take every part of our life that is not as it should be and cut it away, and keep working on every part of our life that is not fully developed. Jesus said:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (John 15:1-2)

So if you believe you are doing what you should to “work out your salvation” and yet, somehow, there doesn’t seem to be much fruit, be patient! You’re not the one in charge of growing the fruit!