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b'In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit: \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d I\\u2019ve heard of people working on trying to be loving and joyful and faithful because they want to make sure others can see the fruit of the Spirit in them. But this can do more harm than good, because it\\u2019s easy to become more focused on how we look and act than how close we are to Jesus. I think our lives should be less about working for these fruits and more about being so close to Jesus that these fruits supernaturally result in our lives.\\nLet\\u2019s take a closer look at the metaphor of fruit. During Jesus\\u2019s ministry, He said He chose us to bear lasting fruit, but this fruit doesn\\u2019t come from us. Rather, Jesus is the vine and we\\u2014His forgiven followers\\u2014are the branches. He said, \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d (John 15:4). The way to remain in Jesus is to remain in His love by following His commands (John 15:10).\\nWhen a branch is connected to the vine, it\\u2019s given everything it needs to grow and produce fruit. Similarly, when we seek to grow closer to God, and as we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us follow His good ways, we are given all we need to grow and produce fruit.\\nGod\\u2019s Spirit lives in us if we\\u2019ve put our trust in Jesus. We rely on Jesus\\u2019s death and resurrection to save us, and the Spirit transforms us to be more and more like Jesus. Think about it this way: God is love, and He has given us His love and the ability to love. God is joyful, and He invites us into His joy. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and He has given us His peace. God is fully patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled\\u2026and He is transforming us so that we are these things too. The fruit comes out in our lives supernaturally when we are fully devoted to God and walking in His love. We can\\u2019t produce fruit without Him. And we must not try. \\u2022 Emily Acker\\n\\u2022 How might a life focused on relationship with Jesus look different from a life focused on fruit? \\n\\u2022 If you want to dig deeper, check out Isaiah 9:6; John 14:27; 15:1-17; Romans 8:29; 1 John 4:8.\\nI have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (NIV)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nMatt.21.1-Matt.21.11|John.15.18-John.15.20|Matt.5.11-Matt.5.12'