Does a fruit tree make a lot of noise when it produces its fruit? No!
It just allows the life within to work out naturally and fruit is the result.
We don’t have to make a lot of noise in our Christian life.
As we simply abide and receive the life of Christ within us,
His essence will naturally flow through us, and the fruit of the Spirit will be the result.
In Philippians 1:11 we read this:
“having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
The phrase having been filled with the fruit of righteousness is literally: to fill to the full so there is no room for anything else.
The fruit of righteousness is the fruit which Christ’s righteous life produces in us and through us by the Holy Spirit.
It is acts of love, mercy, kindness, and grace, etc. In the immediate context, it is overflowing in love, in real knowledge and keen discernment.
It is choosing the best; being genuine and blameless in our relationships with others.
Notice the source of this spiritual fruit: “which comes through Jesus Christ.”
Paul is emphasizing to the Philippians that fruit doesn’t originate by one’s own self-efforts; it originates by Christ’s life lived through us.
Lawrence of Arabia was in Paris after WWI with some of his Arab friends and stayed in a beautiful hotel.
The Arabs only ever lived in tents in the desert.
They were totally fascinated with the faucets in the hotel.
Water in the desert was hard to come by, but in the motel they merely had to turn on the faucets to get all the water they needed.
When they were ready to leave, Lawrence found them trying to detach the faucet.
They thought that if they possessed the faucets they possessed the water.
Lawrence explained that the faucet’s effectiveness did not lie in themselves, but in the water works to which they were attached.
Are our lives as dry as the Arabian Desert?
Do we have the faucets, but they are not connected to the pipeline?
Unless we are connected to the pipeline of spiritual water, our lines will be parched. Spiritual fruit can only flow from us as we are connected to our source of power, Jesus Christ.
He will produce His fruit through us as we abide in Him.
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries