You can fake a lot of things.

You can practice a smile until it shows up on cue.
You can learn when to lift your hands, when to say amen, when to whisper hallelujah.
You can memorise verses, quote Scripture fluently, and sound like you’ve been walking with God since Genesis.

But fruit?

Fruit tells the truth.

Because fruit is not about effort or presentation. It’s evidence. It’s not ambition, gifting, or charisma. It’s the quiet result of abiding. Staying. Remaining. Living connected to the vine when no one is watching.

The Spirit doesn’t just decorate us with gifts that look good in public. He transforms us with fruit that shows up in private.

Paul puts it plainly:

“But the fruit (karpos) of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
— Galatians 5:22–23

Notice Paul didn’t say “fruits,” plural.
It’s fruit, singular. Karpos in Greek.
One fruit. One Spirit.
Nine expressions of His nature growing in us.

This isn’t a produce aisle where you pick patience but skip self-control, or claim joy while avoiding gentleness. It’s one piece of fruit with nine distinct flavors. Like an orange. You can peel it into segments, but it all grows together from the same source.

And that source is Jesus.

Let’s peel it back (pun-intended).

Agapē – Love
Love comes first for a reason.

Agapē love isn’t sentimental or convenient. It doesn’t love because it’s loved back. It loves because it reflects God. This is the love that forgives while still hurting, that prays for enemies instead of posting about them, that bends low to wash feet instead of demanding recognition.

This is the love Jesus said would mark us, not our knowledge or our noise.

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:35

Love is the root. Without it, nothing else lasts.

Chara – Joy

Not the laugh-for-the-camera kind. This joy shows up on hard days. It sings quietly when prayers seem unanswered. It holds on in hospital rooms, in waiting seasons, in moments where nothing feels light. Joy says, “God is still good,” even when circumstances argue otherwise.

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” – Nehemiah 8:10

Eirēnē – Peace
Not the absence of noise, but a settled heart in the midst of it. The kind of peace that lets you sleep through storms like Jesus did. The kind that steadies your breathing when everything around you feels unstable. The kind that feels like a soul stitched together instead of frayed.
The Greek word means wholeness, harmony, a knitting together.

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” – Isaiah 26:3

Makrothumia – Patience
Literally: long-suffering.

In Hebrew thought, patience is tied to the phrase “long of nose.” Strange at first, until you picture it. When someone is angry, their nose flares and their breath shortens. To be “short-nosed” is to be quick-tempered. But to be long of nose is to take a long breath before reacting.

Long-suffering means you don’t explode at the first provocation. You pause, you breathe and you give space for grace to work.

It’s not just about waiting for something to happen. It’s about how you behave while nothing seems to be happening.

Patience is the ability to stay kind while misunderstood, stay steady while experiencing delay and staying obedient while disobedience seems more comfortable. It’s choosing not to snap when pressure builds and not to rush God when His timing feels painfully slow (emphasis on feel).

Scripture describes God Himself this way, slow to anger, long of nose, abounding in mercy. And when that same Spirit lives in us, patience begins to grow. Not because we are naturally calm, but because we are learning to breathe where we once would have flared.

Long-suffering is letting God set the pace, even when your flesh is tapping its foot.

Chrēstotēs & Agathōsunē – Kindness and Goodness
Chrēstotēs is “tender concern”. Agathōsunē is “moral integrity”. Together, they are love on display.
Kindness notices and pauses. It responds gently when harshness would be easier. Goodness goes deeper. It chooses what is right even when no one will applaud it. Kindness says, “I see you.” Goodness says, “I will do right by you.”

“God’s kindness leads us to repentance.” – Romans 2:4

Pistis – Faithfulness
It doesn’t sparkle, trend or even announce itself. Faithfulness looks like showing up again when no one notices that you did yesterday. It’s obedience without the adrenaline you would otherwise get from recognition. It is prayer without blackmail and commitment without applause.

Faithfulness is still saying yes to God when the room is quiet and the feelings have left. It’s trusting that God sees what people overlook. It’s choosing consistency over recognition, longevity over momentary praise.
It’s saying “yes” to God when your flesh screams “no.”

Prautēs – Gentleness
Gentleness is one of the most misunderstood fruits, perhaps because the world confuses it with weakness.

But gentleness is not frailty. It is strength that knows how to restrain itself. It’s power that doesn’t need to prove anything. It’s Jesus standing before Pilate, fully capable of calling down legions but choosing silence instead.

Gentleness speaks truth without crushing people under its weight. It confronts without humiliating. It corrects without contempt. It knows when to be firm and when to be quiet. Like a lion that doesn’t need to roar to be feared, gentleness carries authority without aggression.

Enkrateia – Self-Control
This one is personal.

Self-control shows up in the small, unfiltered spaces of life. In what you eat, what you say, what you scroll past or linger on. In how quickly you react. In what you indulge when no one else is watching. It governs impulses, appetites, habits, and hidden choices.

Self-control is not white-knuckled discipline. It’s not behaviour modification powered by shame. It’s the Spirit quietly helping you say no when your flesh screams yes. It’s choosing surrender over satisfaction and obedience over impulse.

It is freedom disguised as restraint.

The Vine Produces. The Branch Bears.
Jesus said,

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” – John 15:5

You don’t strive to bear fruit.
You abide.
You stay rooted, stay near, stay surrendered.

Fruit is what happens when the sap of the Spirit moves through a surrendered life.

Where Is the Fruit?
The Church is full of gifts.
Preachers, singers, prophets and now influencers.
But where is the fruit?

Because gifts may impress people.
But fruit glorifies God.
Gifts can be counterfeit.
Fruit cannot be faked.

“By their fruit, you will recognise them.” – Matthew 7:16

Dear Yahweh’s Delight,
So, dear Yahweh’s Delight, don’t just chase visibility. Cultivate intimacy. Don’t just preach fire, be sure that you are bearing fruit. Fire may draw crowds, but fruit feeds souls.

Let the Spirit prune what no longer belongs.
Let Him water what looks buried.
Let Him shine until what grows in you looks unmistakably like Jesus.

One fruit.
Nine flavours/expressions.
All from Him.

Stay in the Vine.
Bear the Nine.

And let the world taste and see, not your performance, but His presence and “that He is good”..