Bearing the Spirit's fruit

What does it look like to exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit in your life?
I would argue that it’s much more than a change in behavior. Ultimately, it requires a change in your attitude and fundamental approach to life.
Let’s consider something that Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke:
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first." (Luke 11:24-26)
If all we do is attempt to act out the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives without undergoing a transformation on the inside, we will experience the same fate as the person Jesus is describing in the above passage.
If we are going to bear the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives, the change must come from the roots up. It calls us to change what is going on inside, even in the areas that no one else sees.
In Romans 8:9-11, Paul writes…
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
The question we must always ask ourselves is which Spirit is dwelling in us? To borrow Jesus’ analogy, who is living in your “house?” Is it the Spirit of God or is it the spirit of hostility towards God?
If we are going to truly bear fruit of the Spirit, we must clean house and invite the Spirit of God to dwell in us. We must, in the words of Paul, be “filled with the Spirit.” This is an ongoing practice that requires time, effort, and energy. It is not something that happens just because we go to church, or even church and class.
Spiritual growth will only occur when we allow our whole life, all of our humanity, to be consumed by the Spirit of God. This means that every action, every thought, every word, must flow from the work of the Spirit.
This will require most of us to clean our “house.” There are attitudes and habits that must go. We must make room for the Holy Spirit to take up residence in our whole being. We can no longer simply allow God to have one corner room that we visit a few times a week. He must be present in every room and in every moment. Then we will bear the Spirit’s fruit.

shine!
Jason