“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Take notice that this passage begins ‘The fruit of the Spirit’ and NOT the fruit 
of the Christian, the reason being that the fruit belongs to God and is for bringing Him glory. The fruit of the Christian is a myth. When the Bible declares in Matthew 7:16 that people will know us (identify us as Christians) by our fruit and that good trees bear good fruit, the reality is that they will know we are followers of Jesus when they see the Holy Spirit and His attributes in operation.
Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:14)
When we receive the Holy Spirit, it’s a package deal – where He goes His fruit goes and it’s consumer-ready from day one WITHOUT law or regulation. The Christian on the other hand is the shipping crate and it’s his duty is to pop the lid off and display this Spiritual produce to God’s glory.
Let us abandon the notion that we’re babes in Christ and that our fruit needs to mature or other such nonsense. The reality is that in ourselves we will never master these qualities, but we have something better in the Holy Spirit. We just get need to get out of His way (die to our selfishness) and allow Him to do what He desires to do. As a result folks will occasionally notice how loving or how patient we are, at which point we will say, “Dude, that’s not me. To God be the glory.”
It’s not the power of the fruit, it’s the Power behind the fruit.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35)
He Dwells -- The B'log in My Eye 
Good word to start off the year Dave…I like the quote: “Dude, that’s not me. To God be the glory.” Did you get that from the book of
Dude-eronomy?
Some other scriptures come to mind:
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1st Corinthians 6:19-20
“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
-1 Peter 4:11
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
-Philippians 1:21
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Dude-eronomy…love it! Excellent Scriptural references too, Happy New Year to you and the family, Frank,
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Thank you for sharing about bearing fruit as a “firstfruits” post for the New Year. Very biblical and Jewish. May the shalom of the Holy One of Israel, Jesus the Messiah, be with you, your family and your readers throughtout the year!
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