FRUIT OF THE FLESH

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

“But the fruit of the flesh is hate, sadness, strife, impatience, cruelty, evil, faithlessness, harshness and lack of self-control. With such things there is utter lawlessness.”

 

Unlike the statement above, Galatians 5:22 speaks of the fruit of the Spirit. This is a precious scripture verse for all Christians. It lists the fruit of the Holy Spirit that will manifest if Believers are living according to God’s Word, relying upon the Spirit for power to live the Christian life, praying on a regular basis to our Heavenly Father and serving others in love.

 

But have you ever thought that if these are the “good” fruit of the Spirit, are there “bad” fruit of the flesh? Possibly it might be beneficial to explore this concept.

 

We love luscious fresh fruit straight from the vine, bush or tree. They are beautiful to look at and delightful in taste. They are beneficial for good health and we highly recommend them to our friends, family members and neighbors.

 

But we’ve also seen examples of bad fruit. They are ugly and distasteful to the eye. They smell unpleasant if not downright horrible. Usually they are infested with worms and we cringe at the thought of being dared to take a bite out of them. This is what we will take a look at in this teaching, the “Bad Fruit of the Flesh.”

 

HATE

The opposite of love is hate. It arises from the flesh as a distaste or disdain for others. Sometimes our flesh attempts to justify such hate in our mind and tries to motivate us to seek revenge. But in God’s eyes there is no justification for hatred of others.

 

Proverbs 29:10 states, “Bloodthirsty men hate a man of integrity and seek to kill the upright.” Those who live by the flesh also hate by the flesh. They hate those who seek to do the will of God. (Luke 21:17) They hate with such a vengeance that they will often seek to do physical harm to those who have integrity and live for the truth. Hatred is a violent and dangerous fruit of the flesh. It can disguise itself in many forms only to raise its head in the end to cause torment and pain. Hatred is often behind gossip. It lives within selfish desires. Covetousness can often serve as its fuel and energy. We all can hate if we do not rely upon the Spirit that lives within us as followers of Jesus Christ.

 

SADNESS

The opposite of joy is sadness. It is only natural to feel sad during times of loss, but Christians sometimes struggle with being sad persistently and continually. This is a sign that we are failing to live by the Spirit. When we take our eyes off our Savior we can move into a deep sadness. We do this because we turn away from the joy of the Lord that comes from an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. We become sad when we begin to live by the flesh. Living in the flesh drags us down into the depths of a hopeless life without the God that was sustaining us in His joy. Sadness encourages all the other bad fruits to grow and dominate our life. Sadness paralyses a Christian. That is exactly what Satan desires. Be wary when you are frequently sad. Attempt to identify why you are feeling this prolonged sadness and realign your heart, mind and soul with your Heavenly Father who loves you. Seeking help from other Christians can be of great benefit.

 

STRIFE

Strife is the opposite of peace. Proverbs 30:33 tells us that there is often a relationship between anger, hatred and strife. It says, “For as churning the milk produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.” Strife is conflict. It is the flesh desiring to manifest itself to split families, friends and spouses. It grows as selfish desires are manifested and as hatred fuels its passion for contention. It is unrest at its worst. False teachers cause strife as incorrect beliefs split Christian fellowships down the middle. Strife increases the intensity of negative emotions and results ultimately in a person’s mouth exploding with derogatory words of degradation.

 

IMPATIENCE

Impatience is the opposite of patience and it is fairly clear what we are talking about here. The bad fruit of impatience is another manifestation of the fruit of the “Tree of our Flesh.” It cannot wait. It will not tolerate for even a second what it does not have. Fleshly impatience demands what it desires NOW! No excuses can be offered. No reasoning can take place with its evil impatience eye. There is only one thing that will appease its selfish request. Give it to me NOW, not later, or sometime, but NOW! Impatience can be subtle, like in the tapping of a foot on the floor or the tapping of one’s fingers on a tabletop. It can also be blunt, such as an outburst of shouting or yelling. Impatience can surprise us as Christians for it begins with subtle irritation but can quickly grow with its fleshly passion and need to be served. Proverbs 20:22 tells us, “Don’t repay evil for evil. Wait for the Lord to handle the matter.” We must be patient even when evil is being done to us. Psalms 27:14 states “Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and he will come and save you!” God will deliver you from circumstances if we can be patient. Isaiah 40:31 also says “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” Our strength to be patient comes from the Lord.

 

CRUELTY

The opposite of kindness is cruelty. This is a manifestation of the flesh in one of its most ugly forms. Sometimes we treat others badly, but to be cruel is to seek the total destruction of a reputation or to damage beyond repair someone’s emotional condition. Cruelty can be physical, psychological, emotional or spiritual. In whatever form it is expressed, it is a satanic poisonous weapon that takes no prisoners and offers no compassion for its victims. Proverbs 12:10 reveals the dark depths of cruelty. It says, “The kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.” Here we see what is behind cruelty. It is pure, unadulterated wickedness. Downright demonic wickedness fuels the actions, thoughts and intentions that manifest as cruelty. Believe it or not, Christians can be just as cruel as anyone if they fail to live by the Spirit. The flesh is more powerful than we realize and unless we crucify it daily through prayer and submission to God we can be very cruel to those around us.

 

EVIL

It is obvious that the opposite of goodness is evil, but to fully understand the contrast of these words we must understand the definition of goodness might be embodied in God Himself. As pure, holy and good as God is, evil is impure, unholy and bad.

 

Proverbs 6:16-19 possibly gives us a short list of evil that our Heavenly Father hates. All of these examples are manifestations of evil. The scripture passage states, “There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

 

This description gives us many examples of evil that live within the sinful flesh of mankind. God hates sin and evil. They are so distasteful to Him that we can’t begin to understand it and if we are to truly fear the Lord our God we must hate evil as He does. (Proverbs 8:13)

 

Christians battle evil inside and out. We fight against evil in the world but we also contend against the fleshly desires that still live within us. Our power and strength to fight such a battle comes only from God Himself. Let us remember that we don’t stand a chance against evil unless we rely upon God completely. The Holy Spirit who lives within us as followers of Christ is the only power that can overcome our sinful nature.

 

FAITHLESSNESS

The opposite of being faithful is having a faithless soul. Someone who is faithless has no trust at all in the Creator of the universe. They have no faith in God, or mankind. They live for themselves and for the moment. They live with an unsure future for there is no hope. Paul describes such individuals in Romans 1:29-31, “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.” This is not a pretty picture of mankind, but it is accurate of the sinful world we live in. We must seek God so that we are not influenced by the faithless generation we live in.

 

HARSHNESS

Harshness is the opposite of gentleness. Someone who is brash, blunt, rude, inconsiderate, overbearing, loud, assuming and tactless demonstrates their harshness. We cringe around such exhibitions of selfishness for harshness is striking out with its claws of destruction to wound and mutilate us. Harsh people behave like the world revolves around them and when things don’t go their way they are ruthless with others in speech, action and attitude. People who are harsh seem to have no grace or compassion and always seek the cruelest path in dealing with others. Christians tend to behave this way when they fail to live by the Spirit, neglect putting into action the precepts of God’s Word or avoid regular fellowship with other Believers. Harsh people are very tough to live with and it would be a shame for a Christian to be known as a harsh person.

 

LACK OF SELF CONTROL

A person out of control has no self-control and there is plenty of evidence around us that the world is full of such people. But there is also evidence at times that we slip into this behavior and thought pattern. Lacking self-control, we lose our temper or are abrupt and rude. We engage in activities that someone with more wisdom would avoid like the plague. We spontaneously eat too much, watch what we shouldn’t on television and participate in social behavior that is risky at best. Self-control is lacking in most people and even in Christians at times. Living by the Spirit, obeying God’s Word, praying for strength to resist lack of self-control and letting others hold you accountable in a local fellowship of Believers are all ways we can combat such senseless selfish fleshly tendencies.

 

Christians have a responsibility not only to themselves and others around them, but also their Heavenly Father, to live as children of the King, servants of Jesus Christ and holy priests of God. The only way to live up to this calling is to live with the power provided by the Holy Spirit who lives within us. When we allow the Spirit to lead, we will manifest the true and precious fruit of the Spirit. When we die to self, we destroy and remove the bad fruit of the flesh. God is not only pleased when we do this; He is also glorified and honored.

 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22

 

LET’S LIVE THIS!