"fake fruit. . . Real fruit"

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
 joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness,
Faithfulness, gentle and self - control."
                               ---Galatians 5: 22-23



It's impossible to manufacture the fruit of
the Spirit Such as love and peace, gentleness,
and kindness. You can paint a veneer of joy
and put up a facade Of self-control, but
invariably you will be found out. You can
only decievel yourself and others for so long
With false love and plastic peace.
     Fake fruit comes from self-effort. It's like
 growing Grapes the wrong, way around. First
you find a cluster Of white Concord and fasten
 them to the branches of a vine. From there, you
tie roots to the trunk and dig a hole, setting the
entire thing into the ground. There you have it,
 manufactured fruit (and  incidentally, fruit that
will rot quickly). What you have have done is
put first the fruit; second, the branches; third,
the root; and fourth, the soil.
     God grows genuine fruit in the opposite order.
First He plants the seed of His Word in the soil
of our heart. The Spirit quickens us and causes
the Word to take root in our soul. Next as we
grow in the Lord, the vine and branches mature
until sweet and satisfying fruit clusters in
abundance.
      Genuine fruit comes from abiding in the vine.
"No branches can bear fruit by itself; it must
remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in me" (John 15:4).