At first glance, the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 seems either like an impossible checklist or an arbitrary virtue list. But Paul’s instruction to “walk by the Spirit” so we can bear fruit actually goes back to the Garden of Eden. God commands his people to be fruitful, and he promises to help them do it. After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, he sends us his Holy Spirit to do in us what we can’t fully do ourselves — bear fruit. The fruit of the Spirit isn’t a random list of things we should try better to embody. It’s a picture of what a life yielded to the Spirit can look like. To help us submit ourselves to the work and pruning of the Holy Spirit, we observe Lent. By fasting, abstaining, or just saying “no” to things that pull our hearts away from God, we allow his Spirit to bear fruit in us that we can’t produce on our own.
