Remember This About Spiritual Fruit

Fruit in the Christian life is essential. We read our Bibles, pray, do good works, love others—Christians exhibit fruit. The produce of the Holy Spirit is guaranteed. God does the work in us, through us, with us. And this is where our struggles with assurance of salvation and frustrations in sanctification crop up. We forget two essential lessons about fruit.

• Fruit is incredibly slow.

• Fruit is seasonal.

So are we. Our Lord picked agricultural analogies for a reason. Our spiritual growth is slow and seasonal. Physical fruit takes weeks, months, and even years to arrive on the tree. Farmers don't panic at this stage. They know what's been planted. Spiritual fruit takes serious time before it's detectable. And that's okay. Keep going. Don't let your local grocery store fool you—strawberries actually have seasons. And if you've ever had a strawberry in-season and out-of-season, boy can you taste the difference. Our spiritual life has boons of fruit, and then we have seasons where the Lord is…