But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 NAS
Where there are apples, there is an apple tree. Where there are peaches, there is a peach tree. If the ground is littered with walnuts, you can bet there is a walnut tree close by. It is also a certainty that, where there is Love, there, is the Spirit. Where there is joy, there, is the Spirit. Where there is peace, there, is the Spirit. Where there is patience, there, is the Spirit. Where there is kindness, there, is the Spirit. Where there is gentleness, there, is the Spirit. Where there is goodness, there, is the Spirit. Where there is faithfulness, there, is the Spirit. Where there is hope, there, is the Spirit. Where there is self-control, there, is the Spirit.
Spiritual arrogance, an adult-compromising behavior, causes man to believe only Protestant fruit is real fruit, or only Hindu fruit is real fruit, or Catholic, or Moslem, or Buddhist, or Voodoo, or the local spiritualist. Fruit is fruit, guys! Doesn’t matter if you’re an apple, an orange, a banana, grapes, tangerines, pears or whatever; fruit is fruit is fruit! And, it doesn’t matter whose orchard or vinyard you find yourself in. Fruit is fruit is fruit is fruit is fruit. Fruit is fruit in Farmer John’s orchard, just as much as it is fruit in Mother Mary’s orchard, just as much as it is fruit in Bozo Clown’s orchard, just as much as it is fruit in a Free Methodist orchard. Fruit is fruit is fruit is fruit is fruit is fruit is fruit is fruit!
Just to state the obvious: If what you see is Holy Spirit Fruit, it came from a Holy Spirit Tree. When joy emanates from a person, its source is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a reflection from an external source. The Holy Spirit’s source is the Kingdom of Heaven, and as vestigial as it might be, the Kingdom of Heaven is within the individual. It is the same for peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and Love.
My mother’s peach tree produces peaches with more pit than peach. It’s still a peach tree and the peaches are still peaches. When I lived in Northern Michigan, I planted a walnut tree. It never produced walnuts. It had a hard enough time producing leaves much less fruit. It was still a walnut tree. Just because another person’s spiritual fruit isn’t prodigious and plump does not mean the tree does not exist in that other person’s life. What it does mean is really none of our business, period.
MotherFather cares little about religious orientation, nationalities, skin color, language, semantics, the four spiritual laws, any of man’s silly hoops, doctrines, rituals, books, or arbitrary barriers. MotherFather only cares about their children, and when MotherFather wants to Love their children, even an atheist can’t escape. Atheists aren’t rejecting MotherFather anyway. They are simply rejecting mankind’s religious foibles and the oxymoronic dysfunctional egocentric male deity foisted upon them by religious, culturally oriented, institutions.
If the presence of Spiritual Fruit is to be measured solely by an external religious orientation, the universe is a bit short on the commodity. But, if religious tenets are swept aside and Spiritual Fruit is accepted as Spiritual Fruit regardless of religious constraints, at least at primitive levels, within the close knit family environment, there is actually quite a bit of Spiritual Fruit out there. If Love Fruit is accepted at face value, as Love Fruit, who does not want to Love and be Loved? The human race may not practice Fruity behavior at local, state, national and universal levels, but at the basic level, the mother, father, child level, there is, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and Love in varying degrees. There is at least the desire to promote these relational values. Parents and children at least want to Love and be Loved. They do try.
This desire, this want is foundational to just about everything we do. Fashion: people want to look good so they and others will see them as being worthy of, Love. Addictions: because of Love deficiency, in a distorted effort to Love themselves, people self-medicate to reduce the pain of every imaginable kind of rejection. Obscene amassing of riches: again in the shadow of Love deficiency, in an effort to Love themselves, or at least establish their value, their worth in the eyes of themselves and others, people hoard riches and lavish upon themselves gifts of every kind. The greater the pile of gold, the greater is the uncertainty of their value, their worth, their love-a-bility and their ability to truly Love. Enablers: people who assume the responsibilities of another person so the other person will Love them. Caretakers: people who obsessively care for others at the expense of personal health in order to deserve the Love of themselves and others. Superficial sexually focused relationships: people pass in and out of relationships desperately attempting to satisfy this need to Love and be Loved. Media: music, dvds, entertainment, advertising, Hollywood; where would these be if every single living thing knew their essential, enduring worth, and understood beyond any doubt they were able to Love and be Loved, perfectly, just as they are? The world is desperate for maturity, because maturity, adulthood and unconditional Love are synonyms.
As evidenced by the behavior of mankind establishes that to Love and be Loved is their ultimate desire; that Love is Lord. Love is Master. Love is exalted. Unfortunately, mankind is clinically retarded. Mankind has set up housekeeping in the primitive sensory mode. The free-will based mindset has enslaved mankind and established sensory based cultures. Our free-will culture builds monolithic cultural and religious walls, not to keep the individual from getting out, but to prevent the individual from getting in, into his or her own personal Kingdom of Heaven.
Just think about it. Don’t swallow it just because it’s a new flavor and sounds neat. Treat it like Truth, which means you can get down and dirty with it, whack it, ask nitro-glycerin soaked questions. Don’t be satisfied until you’re satisfied. If it isn’t Truth, you definitely don’t want to buy it.
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