Fruit is the natural product of a well-planted and tended tree. An apple tree doesn't spend all day thinking about the essential qualities of an apple, the practical application of apples, or the ontological distinctions between apples and oranges. It is an apple tree. It grows oranges.
The same is true for us. At least to a degree. What we plant our life in, what we invest our lives in, will determine the fruit of our lives. Paul tells us that if we invest in a life of rebellion toward God, then sin and pain will be the fruit. If we invest it in God, then the fruit will resemble the character of God. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (Gal. 5:22-23 )
These are fruits of God's Spirit. They are not our fruit. We don't produce them through better study, harder work, or our initiative. This is fruit that God produces as we spend time with him in prayer, as we listen to him through Scripture, and as we walk with the Spirit. The soil is important. Do we base our life first on surrender and obedience or on our own wisdom? God does not ask us to force a character change before we can live a life of obedience. The character change is a work of grace, a gift of God, that is given as we walk with him.
It is the presence of God in our lives that brings change. It is the influence and the power of the Holy Spirit that liberate and shape us. Activism seems like the best first step, but God starts by asking us to "Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) If we take the time to focus on God, to take time in prayer and Bible study, and remain alert to the Spirit's leading throughout the day, then your life will bear fruit.
An apple tree doesn't have to worry about what kind of fruit it will produce. Neither does a life purposefully planted in Christ.
"19When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees of the field people, that you should besiege them? 20However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls." Deuteronomy 20:19-20
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