One of the fun parts about living in another country where you don’t speak the language is guessing what you’re buying at the store. Familiar brands and products are few and far between and there are completely new flavors to explore. Google translate helps, but I still don’t always know what I’m getting. For example, one type of succo (juice) is frutti di bosco – the literal translation is ‘fruit of the forest’. I lived in Michigan for a long time, which has both lots of forests and lots of fruit, but I’m still not certain which fruit would qualify as the fruit of the forest. Fortunately there’s a picture on the label and based on that, I’m pretty sure that frutti di bosco is something like mixed berry (and it’s delicious, by the way).
Hanging out in front of the juice display, I got to thinking about how Jesus said, “A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs never grow on thornbushes or grapes on bramble bushes” (Luke 6:44). You can tell what kind of juice you’re going to get when you go straight to the source.
When buying juice, I can be reasonably sure that the fruit pictured on the carton indicates what kind of juice is inside. But the same isn’t true with people. When placed under pressure, their “juice” doesn’t always match the picture. Some people when squeezed are as sweet as you expected. But with others you quickly find the label was misleading – the juice is sour and burns like acid.
Paul spells it out in Galatians: “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce… evil results” (Galatians 5:19). Sin produces a bitter vintage. “But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). It’s more than just sweet; it’s life giving nectar.
Every one of us produces some kind of juice when we’re under pressure. On our own, we’re not going to be able to manufacture love, joy, peace, patience, kindness or any of the rest. It’s not possible for a thornbush to produce figs. It’s a function of the Spirit of God at work in a believer that produces those life-giving fruits. Grapes only grow on grapevines. How does He do it? By grafting us onto a new Vine so that we’re no longer what we once were but something completely different (John 15:4-5). Now it’s His goodness that flows through us, His patience or mercy or kindness that’s squeezed out when we’re under pressure, His fruit that we offer to a weary and hungering world.