Fruit of the Spirit

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of hearing John Flowers speak at Kingdom Culture. Though I'm not exactly sure of what he said that sparked these thoughts, I know that since then I've been thinking about the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5 says that the fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And for the longest time I've always thought that the reason that these were explained were because when I received the Holy Spirit, I received these as well. But now I'm beginning to see that this can't be an accurate view of these verses.

There are two problems with the view that the fruit of the Spirit comes when you receive Christ. First of all, not every Christian possesses all or any of these at any given time. And secondly, there are non-christians who oftentimes do.

So what I'm thinking is that this fruit isn't supposed to be seen in the same light as the gifts of the Holy Spirit (which are things which only Christians possess), but rather an indicator of the presence of the Holy Spirit. If I see a clerk showing patience with a rude customer, I'm seeing the Holy Spirit work in them. If I see a kid full of joy, I'm seeing the Holy Spirit give it to them. If I see a teenage couple show self-control in their physicality, I'm seeing the Holy Spirit at work.

This view is so encouraging. It turns the fruit of the Spirit into a highlighter for where the Lord is at work. It shows that even when someone wants nothing to do with God, He still wants something to do with them. Whenever you see one of these things, they're practically screaming, "The Holy Spirit is working here!"