Intro to the Fruit of the Spirit -- Cultivating a Spiritual Garden

Published on 03/27/2024 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

Want to Grow and Cultivate a Spiritual Garden to Produce an Everlasting fruit That Frost Cannot Bite?

Are you a gardener? If you are, you know that growing colorful flowers and crunchy veggies requires your love, care, time, and effort. You need to work the soil to make it just right for the seeds, water them regularly, and patiently wait for nature to do its work.

When I was around eleven, I planted a couple of marigold seeds in a flower pot that was small enough to be placed in front of me on my table next to my bed. I watered it regularly and kept a journal, recording down the date I sew the seeds, and listing its growth progress. So even though I've never been a gardener, I've experienced the feelings of excitement, awe, and fascination. Just imagine, a tiny seed could sprout into a beautiful flower that bore no resemblance to when it was a "baby"! How amazing nature is!

Years later, I'm still growing plants, but plants that cannot be seen, felt, smelled, or tasted. Specifically, I'm cultivating one particular spiritual fruit. Yes, I've become a spiritual gardener, and you can become one, too--without any prior gardening experience!

What could I possibly be growing? Well, before I identify this fruit, I'd like to talk a bit about growing plant in the natural world.

In our physical world, we need plenty of light, water, air, and good soil for proper sowing and reaping of plants. Of course, we also need the seed. Likewise, for spiritual gardening, we need the same elements.

Light: Yahweh God Almighty is the light of this world. Those who abide in Him will shine forth this light. Jesus our Messiah, who is the image of the invisible God, was sent into the world as our guiding light. This Father and Son are the light that enables our spiritual fruit to grow.

Our Messiah said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12, WEB)

Jesus also said, "I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

We cannot bear any fruit by ourselves; we need to maintain a constant relationship with Jesus in order to produce fruit in our lives.

Water and air: The Holy Spirit, Yahweh's creative power, anoints Jesus' disciples with power and growth, just as water and air anoint plants with life (Isaiah 44:3; John 3:8). When God fills us with His Spirit, we become productive sowers and reapers. Without His anointing, we will be powerless, and will not produce spiritually.

Soil: Each heart of each individual is the soil in which the spiritual fruit grows. When the heart condition isn't right, no plant would be able to sprout fully. Receptive soil will yield a plentiful harvest, whereas unreceptive soil will barely yield any before the plant is hindered from proper growth by the wrong priorities of life (Mark 4:1-20).

Seed: The Word of God is the seed that can sprout and grow into tall plants in people's heart (soil), depending on the soil's condition (Mark 4:1-20). We need the seed in our heart in order for it to grow into fruit.

All of these mentioned elements are required to reap a great harvest: Yahweh and Jesus who are our Light, the Holy Spirit which is our water and air, our heart which is the soil; and the Word of God that is the seed. Of course, we also need to put effort into growing plants, and patiently let time take its course.

Yes, like in the physical world, we need to put some effort in this gardening, but exactly, what should we do? Pointless effort is wasted, so we need to direct our energy properly for maximum benefit.

The efforts we need to exert are supplied in the following passages:

"Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stand in the way of sinners,
nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in Yahweh’s law.
On his law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water,
that brings forth its fruit in its season,
whose leaf also does not wither.
Whatever he does shall prosper." (Psalm 1:1-3)

To Joshua, Yahweh commanded, "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed: for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:8-9)

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn't bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." (John 15:1-2)

From these three passages, we learn these basic principles:

1. Planting and caring for the seed in our soil guarantees harvest. In other words, meditating on the messages in God's instruction manual, the Bible, will promise success. Yet, just reading the Bible does no one good. We must apply its teachings to our daily living. We must meditate on it by both taking in (hearing) and bringing forth (doing).

The word "meditate" is translated from the Hebrew word "hagah," which literally means "to mutter." When we mutter something over and over, we are thinking about that and keeping it in our mind. Hence, like Joshua, we must never let the Torah (God's Instruction) depart out of our mouth. We must mutter it to obey it. We must never turn from it to the right hand or to the left, but keep on the straight path of Yahweh. Then and only then will we experience good success wherever we go.

2. If something in our lives, like wrong priorities, unimportant cares of this world that only appear to be important, and bad associations are hindering our fruit-bearing, we must take them away (prune them) so we can effectively bear the fruit.

3. While we observe the Torah, we must remember that Yahweh is constantly by our side. So long as we are faithful to Him and do as He commands, He will never leave our side, as He promised Joshua. With Him by our side, we must not fear or be dismayed whenever we face challenges. Knowing that we have support from our Almighty God should give us all the courage we ever need to overcome our darkest enemies. God will help us fight the frost that bites our plant!

Now that we have identified all the necessary tools for proper gardening, it's time to get started! What should we grow?

Galatians 5:22-23 tells us the fruit we should grow--and, yes, it's what I'm cultivating now. This is the fruit:

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control." (ASV)

The fruit spoken here is the spiritual characteristics that Yahweh wants to develop in each person. Note the nine traits of the fruit. Each quality makes up a complete fruit, so even without just one element, the fruit will be incomplete.

What's so special about this fruit?? Can't we develop these qualities on our own?

We can develop these qualities by ourselves; certainly, but we can develop them only to a certain extent. For example, many of us have love, but how deep or how far can it go?

The qualities of this fruit are special because they are supernatural; they can be developed only when Yahweh develops them in you--no one can develop them by their self-effort. For instance, the love that Yahweh and Jesus want to develop in each individual is a love that transcends all boundaries, that does not change along with life's circumstances, that endures forever.

Since this is a spiritual fruit, it can withstand time and age, and challenges of life,. No one will be able to steal it and gobble it all up! And no disease will be able to destroy it as long as you maintain it in good soil.