Fruit of the Spirit

Discuss the differences between resume virtues and eulogy virtues. What are a few of each category that you desire? How do our lives reflect which virtues are most important to us?

Read Galatians 5:16-26. What stories from Jesus’s life and ministry come to your mind as examples of living in step with the Spirit, producing the fruit of the Spirit?

Christopher Wright of the fruit of the Spirit, “These are the qualities that God himself will produce in a person’s everyday, ordinary human life because the life of God himself is at work within them.” The power to produce fruit comes from the Spirit. In what ways is this reality encouraging and/or challenging for you?

In John 15:5 Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Here in Galatians Paul instructs Christians to walk in step with the Spirit. This is the idea of a practicing faith, an apprenticeship in following Jesus, abiding and walking with him. This involves our whole lives. What areas of your life are you more prone to not walk in step with the Spirit?

We don’t produce spiritual fruit, the Spirit does. We are invited to participate in the process and witness what God is working in and through us by paying attention, walking, and abiding with him. Working off of a plant metaphor that a plant requires sun, good soil, clean water, weeding and blooms. Our spiritual life requires worship, spiritual friendships/community, guardrails on what is transforming us, and a sharing of our joy and benefits. What steps this week can you take to pursue and grow in these areas? What practices have helped you grow in these areas?