Fruit Inspection

Read

Galatians 5:22–23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Think

I was speaking at a church and behind me on the stage sat a pile of pomegranates. Big, beautiful, red pomegranates. Now, I love a good visual, and pomegranates are one of the most prominent fruits in Scripture. A lot of Jewish scholars believe the forbidden fruit in the Garden was not an apple at all. It was a pomegranate. Some of the old rabbis counted the seeds inside and claimed there were 613, one for each law in the Torah. Whether that math checks out, I do not know. But the point is clear. God has always been interested in fruit.

And when it comes to the person you are dating, he wants you to be interested in fruit too.

It is one thing to ask, "Do they have a story?" That matters, and we talked about it yesterday. But talk is cheap. I can stand up and say I am an elephant. I can even do a pretty good imitation of one. But the fact that I say it and sound like one does not make me an elephant. In the same way, someone can say "I am a Christian" and even give you a convincing testimony, but the proof is in the produce.

Jesus said in John 15:8, "This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." That is the show-me-the-money verse. God is not interested in just hearing us talk about our faith. He wants to see it growing in our lives from the inside out.

Paul gives us the inspection checklist in Galatians 5:22–23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Nine markers. Nine things the Holy Spirit produces in a person who is genuinely connected to Christ. Not one of them can be faked for very long. You can manufacture charm for a few months. You can perform kindness when someone is watching. But the fruit of the Spirit is organic. It grows from the inside out over time, and it shows up when nobody is keeping score.

So let me walk through this like a practical checklist.

Love. Is this person sacrificially loving? Not just the candles-and-flowers kind. Are they willing to put your needs above their own when it is inconvenient?

Joy. Does this person carry an inner buoyancy that is not dependent on circumstances? Or are they only happy when everything is going their way?

Peace. Do they have a settled confidence in God, or are they anxious and reactive? Can they sit in uncertainty without spiraling?

Forbearance. Some translations say patience. Can this person delay gratification? Are they patient with you when you are difficult? Are they patient with the waiter, the barista, the person in traffic? Watch how they treat people who cannot do anything for them.

Kindness. Pick someone who is kind. I mean that. Of all the things you could look for, do not overlook basic, everyday kindness. A person who is kind to strangers, kind when they are tired, kind when no one is watching. That trait will carry you through decades of marriage.

Goodness. Does this person have biblically grounded morals? Do they stand for what is right even when it costs them?

Faithfulness. Are they consistent? Reliable? Do they keep their word? Or are they flaky, disappearing when things get hard and resurfacing when it is convenient?

Gentleness. Can they be strong and tender at the same time? A person without gentleness will bruise every relationship they touch.

Self-control. Do they control their speech? Their spending? Their appetites? Or is every impulse obeyed without question?

Here is what I have noticed. People will show you these things, or the absence of them, within the first few months of a relationship if you are paying attention. The problem is, most of us are not paying attention. We are too caught up in the excitement. Too focused on a few features. Too busy in the showroom to pop the hood and look at the engine.

And do not skip yourself in this evaluation. Before you hold someone else up to this checklist, hold yourself up to it first. Because the fruit of the Spirit is not just a filter for who you date. It is a mirror for who you are becoming. If you cannot find patience in your own life, you have no business being frustrated by its absence in someone else's.

Those pomegranates on the stage that day were beautiful on the outside. Smooth, deep red skin. But the real value was inside. You had to cut one open to see the seeds, to taste the sweetness, to discover whether the fruit was actually good. And that takes effort. That takes time. That takes a willingness to look past the packaging. God did not give us the fruit of the Spirit as a wish list. He gave it as a diagnostic tool. Use it.

Apply

Run the checklist – Take each of the fruit in Galatians 5:22–23 and honestly evaluate them in your own life first. Then evaluate them in the person you are dating or considering. Write down what you see.

Pray

Lord, grow your fruit in me before I go looking for it in someone else. I confess that I am quick to evaluate others and slow to examine my own heart. Produce in me the love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that only your Spirit can grow. Make me the kind of person I am asking you to send me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.