Fruit of Repentance Love For the Fruit of Repentance

 

Fruit of Repentance

Love For the Fruit of Repentance

Repentance is the hope of living your best life ever

Enjoying the beauty, taste, smell, touch

And even the sound of fruit produced in us by the Spirit of God

So let us remove the sack cloth and ashes

And live the full and abundant life God intended you to live 

 

Love For the Fruit of Repentance

 

I love fruit.

 

 I love the color of strawberries,

 the blue in blueberries,

and yellow bananas.

 

Sandy has a bowl on the kitchen counter

with artificial fruit, they look so real.

 

 There are times, I find myself

wanting to reach out for one.

 

 I love the taste of fruit.

 

 We celebrated Mother’s Day

and my birthday together

and Sandy made a fruit truffle.

 

A large clear glass flower pot shaped

bowl filled with layers of strawberries,

blueberries, shredded little chunks

of pineapples, and other berries.

 

I must have had 4 or 5 helpings myself,

 will power was almost nonexistent.

 

I loved the texture eating the fruit truffle,

 the small strains of pineapple and

the crunch of the small chunks

were heavenly with every chew.

 

Lemons are a favorite of mine.

 

 I love to have them in my water

and after a meal eating the lemon.

 

They smell so good, manufactures of

cleaning supplies for years have used

the smell of lemons for their products.

 

Every one of my senses loves fruit,

even my hearing when I knock on

a melon to hear the hollow sound.

 

All my life I looked at repentance

in a negative light.

 

I focused on the evil, wrong, painful,

insulting, degrading effects of sin.

 

No one likes to look at sorrow…

 

 No one in their right mind

wants to be sorrowful.

 

Sitting in sack cloth and ashes is not

what I wants you to do today or any day.

 

It is interesting, the first New Testament’s

response to repentance is baptism.

 

God does not want you sitting around

in sorrow and dirt feeling bad.

 

God wants to wash you.

 

 Water Baptism is a spiritual event.

 

It is not about removing the dirt

from the body…

 

 But the pledge of a clear

conscience before God.

 1 Peter 3:21

 

Water Baptism is all about death and life.

 

Removing the curse of death

for new life, a new beginning.

 

Christ Jesus died and was buried.

 

 When we enter into the waters of baptism…

 

 We are identifying with Christ’s

death on the cross for our sins.

 

When we go under the water,

 we are identifying with Christ’s burial and

at this point a spiritual surgery takes place.

 

The old nature is cut off like the man

under the old convent had to have the

 unnecessary flesh surgically removed

by men…

 

 God removes the unnecessary flesh from us.

 Colossians 2:9-12    

 

Water Baptism reveals God’s intent

for us to come out of the water

with the resurrection power

of Christ into a new life.

 Romans 6:4

 

God does not want you dealing with the

past, that is why He removes the past

through Water Baptism and forgiveness.

 

God wants you to get on with life…

 

 Old things have passed away

and all things become new.

 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

So what does the new life look like?

 

It looks like the fruit

described in Galatians 5:22-26.

 

Why do we love the Fruit of Repentance?

 

 Because it is the fulfillment of life.

 

It is everything that grows

from the Tree of Life.

 

It is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

 

What is undesirable about that?

 

When you bring fruit home…

 

 You wash it.

 

Jesus, when washing the disciples’ feet,

said those who have been cleansed by God

need only to have their feet washed.

 

After Water Baptism, we still walk

in this world and get our feet dirty.

 

When that happens…

 

Jesus is there to wash your feet.

 

The Scriptures found in Ephesians 5,

 tells us Jesus is like a groom who cares and

feeds his wife and He makes her holy by

washing or cleansing with the Word of God.

 v. 26

 

Repentance is the hope

of living your best life ever.

 

Enjoying the beauty, taste, smell, touch

and even the sound of fruit

produced in us by the Spirit of God.

 

So let us remove the sack cloth and ashes,

and live the full and abundant life

God intended you to live. 

 

 

 

Scripture Reading

 

 Galatians 5:22-26 NIV

 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.