I've always loved how Paul keeps 'fruit' as singular -- all these things work together. We don't get to pick our favorites and ignore the rest. It's like asking God to transform part of our lives and ignore the rest! Tim Keller talks about how we often treat God like an interior decorator, inviting God into our lives but hoping God just shows up and moves around some things in the living room, when in reality God enters in and starts knocking down walls, doing a total renovation, because God wants more for us than we can possibly ask or imagine.
When we live by the Spirit, God transforms us, day by day. It's not a linear path, an easy road. We slowly and surely, over the course of our lives, become more and more like Christ, and the fruit of the Spirit become apparent, each breaking out in different ways, but they all work together to reflect the image of God within us!
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