Daily Archive

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭23‬

The nature of fruit trees to produce fruit. The type of fruit they produce identifies the type of tree they are. Apple trees produce apples, pear trees produce pears, etc. While climate may affect the amount and quality of the fruit, nothing changes the type of fruit they produce.

People are a lot like fruit trees. You can tell the character of a person by the fruit he/she produces. Jesus says, “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” (Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭20)

We all know people who can enter a room and completely change the atmosphere just by their presence. To some, joy may be considered an emotion, but emotions can deceive. Emotions can change with the situation. To the follower of Jesus, joy isn’t so much an emotion as it is a character trait. We don’t ’have joy’ we are joy!

Paul tells us that joy is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit that lives within each one of us. ‘But’, you may say, ‘I’m not feeling very joyful right now.’ The reality is, it’s difficult to be joyful when there are so many things that are going wrong.

Relationships are struggling. Wars are numerous. Society seems on the brink of self-destruction. Weather and climate patterns are changing. There seems to be no end to the struggles before us.

So how can we have joy in the midst of pain? Humanly speaking, we can’t. That’s the sad reality. But when we are filled with Holy Spirit power, He produces His fruit in us and one part of that fruit is joy!

Just as you can tell an apple tree from a distance, you can tell a Spirit-filled believer from a distance because they have a joy about them that is evident. I’ve seen it, and I’m sure you have too. You are at a store or some social event and talk with a total stranger and get that feeling they are a brother or sister in Christ. You feel their joy.

The closer we are to the Holy Spirit the more He has the freedom to produce the fruit of joy in your life. Let the true joy of the Christmas season be a powerful force in your relationships.