Fruit Inspection
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
Within each one of us there is a war being waged. The flesh against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. Both have their own desires which are contrary to each other. Only one of them can be in charge. You can't serve both.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Who is the master in your life, the flesh or the Spirit? Jesus makes it very clear how this distinction can be made. You will know them by their fruits.
You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
To know what your life is producing, you must gain an understanding of what is good. In the beginning when God created the Earth, everything that He made was good. When man rebelled against God's commands, he perverted the original intent for creation. Sin perverts that which is good and therefore, it cannot be understood apart from a proper understanding of God's moral laws.
Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
Love is expressed through obedience to Christ's commands and results in fullness of joy. If you choose to serve the master of your flesh rather than Christ you will not experience joy or any of the other fruits of the Spirit which God gives to those who put their trust in Him.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Once you know what is good, you are positioned to distinguish between the deeds of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit.
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
To walk in the Spirit is to live a life of trust and dependence upon God, who is the source of all good things. The fruits of the Spirit find their origin in God. When those fruits are manifested in your life it is evidence of a life submitted to Him.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
As we continue on the path of following Christ, we must discipline our flesh. We must contend with our desires and submit them to Christ.
You may be wondering, "If following Christ is filled with sacrifice and hardship, where do we look to find hope and encouragement amidst our suffering?"
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Through all of life's challenges, keep your eyes on Christ, who suffered and died to purchase your redemption and to restore you to fellowship. You have an eternal inheritance as part of the body of Christ. Will you choose to follow Him, or will you place a higher value on the passing pleasures of this Earth?
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.