I was given some apricots recently, fresh from the tree. The only problem was, they weren’t ripe yet so couldn’t be eaten. I put them in a bowl to ripen and went away for the weekend, only to discover when I got home that because it had been so hot, they were now overripe and some of them had started to spoil. What was interesting though was that the spoiled ones had started to affect the still ok ones around them. Any fruit that touched the spoiled fruit quickly became spoiled itself.
Have you ever had one of those days, weeks, months… years? Where everything is permeated by the ‘rotten fruit’ in your life? I have, and it’s not pleasant…
How true is this in life? How often do we let the ‘spoiled fruit’ contaminate our thoughts, words, attitudes and actions? Did you know that you can make or break the atmosphere around you just by your mood? I have, on more occasions than I care to remember, seen the looks of disappointment and hurt on the faces of people I love because I have chosen to show my ‘rotten fruit’. I have not been guided by the fruit of the Spirit and have instead shown the opposite characteristics.
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
It’s also unfortunately true that misery loves company, and the reaction to negativity is usually more of the same. You can be so full of joy and happiness one minute but come crashing down the next with just one negative word from someone. Like my apricots, where the good apricots couldn’t make the spoiled apricots better but were instead impacted by the rotting apricots, our words and actions can negatively impact those around us all too easily.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Matthew 7:18
It is so important to be careful with our words, thoughts and actions. The bible tells us in Matthew 7:16-20 that we will be known by our fruit. Social media and other platforms will entice us with ‘feel good’ lifestyles which are contrary to the characteristics listed in Galatians. I don’t know about you, but I have lived the inward focussed lifestyle according to the world, and I would much rather live the outward focussed lifestyle according to the Word… it is safer, it is healthier and it benefits everyone around me, not just myself.
It’s not the easiest way sometimes. Showing love when you’re angry, showing patience when you’re frustrated, showing self-control when you’re tempted and showing kindness and goodness when somebody does you wrong… these are incredibly difficult things to do (for me anyway!) but we have been called to a higher standard and this is the fruit we should be aiming to be in the lives of those around us, not the rotting and spoiled fruit that damages everything it comes into contact with…
How is your fruit bowl looking today?
I can really appreciate this post… years ago when I was in the early years of my marriage… we lived on Post and my neighbor, while she was a wonderful person, was also very negative about her husband and her marriage… not that my marriage was a picnic… (it was abusive in so many ways)… but one day, my husband commented that I had a very negative attitude toward him and I had always strived to have a positive attitude… your post is a reminder that if we fellowship with people who are negative, we will also be negative…
I would also love to share a praise with you… I celebrated my 62nd birthday in November 2019… in August 2019, I finally “adulted up” and had my first Mammogram… then my first and second Colonoscopy… my first and second CT Scan… and my first MRI… the Mammogram was fine, but there was a mass in my colon… there were no real symptoms… while these were all firsts for me, I was completely at peace, knowing God was with me on this journey… I underwent my first surgery, major surgery, to remove the mass December 30, 2019… it was 6 hours… I was told that I would have to have a temporary Ileostomy and of course, worse case scenario, was possible death… but I knew in my heart that God’s hand was in this surgery… I don’t have the Ileostomy… my healing has been awesome… God is sooo good!!!
Hi Carina,
Thank you so much for sharing this testimony…. God is indeed good! Praise God that He is with us in all circumstances 🙂
I love how He brings people together in this big wide world of ours… even though we have never met, how wonderful it is that we can rejoice in good news together and encourage each other through the wonders of modern technology… xx