Articles
Being Rooted to Produce Fruits of the Spirit
The fruits of God’s Holy Spirit are not bananas, apples, or grapes. In fact, they are: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. However, these fruits can only grow when God’s created children truly accept and align their hearts with Christ.
The Bible likes to use the metaphor of a fruit tree that is firmly rooted in the ground to signify a heart that has truly adopted Christ’s teachings. Overall, roots serve two important biological purposes; they anchor the tree into the ground and provide it with sustenance. Jeremiah 17:7-8 says, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Souls that are rooted in Christ have been baptized: meaning they received the waters of eternal life. They also are abundantly nourished by God because He continually guides His children in righteousness and permeates all. Ephesians 3:16-19 reads, “That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
2 Peter 1:3 reads, His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.“ All of God’s deeds throughout the Bible are rooted on His unending love toward His children. The world often confuses love with the emotion of infatuation. Emotions are fleeting responses toward exterior circumstances or stimuli. However, love is deeper than just an emotion because it is an action and a willingness to put the needs of another before your own. In some cases, love is even a readiness to self-sacrifice on their behalf. Romans 5:8 reads, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God redeemed mankind from sin with His son’s blood. His loving wisdom also helps His children focus on the consistent hope that stems from above instead of the chaos going on around them. To do this, the focus has to be kept on Him and enacting His teachings. (Galatians 5:24-25) Therefore may we be firmly rooted in God to nourish a better world off the fruits of His Spiri
