“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
I remember the summer we tried to grow superhot peppers. We had just started a hot sauce production company, and I wanted to experiment with the idea of growing our own produce.
The hottest of all these peppers was the Carolina Reaper. I bought some seeds from an online vendor and did a bunch of research on the ideal techniques for growing them. The general advice was to keep them in lightly damp soil with 19 hours of light. Once you had flowers, you had to take a Q-Tip and cross pollinate them. All this was the easy part.
But the temperature had to stay steady between 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit no matter what. That proved enormously difficult.
So difficult that, although we did get flowers to bloom, we could not get any of those blooms to fruit. Turns out, the conditions for true growth had not been met, and so the final product never came about.
That’s exactly how things are with the Holy Spirit and the “fruit” that comes from Him dwelling inside you. Love, joy, peace, and the rest are not automatic. We need to provide Him with conditions ideal for growth.
So, what are these so-called conditions, you ask? Do you need to buy spiritual fertilizer? Do you need to hire a gardener sent by God? What does it take to become a person dedicated to living out the list of fruit listed above?
I submit that it's community.
If you choose not to spend time with people, the fruits of the Spirit are irrelevant. The very purpose of those fruits IS for the benefit of other people. Healthy community is what will cause spiritual fruit to grow.
So, as you consider how to become more like Jesus, recognize that it takes you living with a spiritual family. I don’t mean that you all need to live in the same house or anything like that. But living in isolation—the “me and God” approach—will only kill your efforts to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and in control of yourself.