After I posted Stay in the Vine, Bear the Nine, I did what I always do.

I went back and read it again.

Not because I was looking for grammatical errors or because I wanted to admire my own thoughts and penmanship. But because sometimes, once the words are out there, they come back and sit with me differently. The rush of writing fades. The “publish” button is no longer glowing. And I’m left asking myself a question:

Do I actually live this?

So I reread it slowly. Not as the writer but as a reader. As someone who also has to choose patience when irritated, gentleness when misunderstood, self-control when no one is watching.

As I reread it, I realized I had paused where Paul didn’t.

I celebrated the fruit but I hadn’t sat long enough with you to understand what makes it grow.

I quoted, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” and unpacked the nine. I spoke about abiding, remaining, roots.

But Paul didn’t stop at verse 23.

He continued:

“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
— Galatians 5:24–25

Those Who Belong

Paul opens with a careful distinction: those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Paul is not speaking about people who admire Jesus, people who causally listen, people who agree with His teachings and probably from a distance. He is speaking about those who belong to Him.

So this is where I ask you a question and encourage you to sit with it and answer the Lord honestly: Do you belong to Jesus?

Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 that you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. To belong to Christ means you have been purchased by His blood. It means you have been transferred from one kingdom to another. Colossians 1:13 says He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son.

Belonging means you are no longer self-owned. No longer a lone sheep without family. Jesus has claimed you.

Romans 8:9 says it plainly: “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” And in that same chapter, verses 15–16 remind us that we have received the Spirit of adoption. We cry, “Abba, Father,” and the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

The Spirit is not an accessory for believers, He is the mark that shows that we belong to Jesus.

Ephesians 1:13 says we were sealed (marked/identified as His) with the promised Holy Spirit. 

This is the order Paul is establishing:

You belong to Christ. Because you belong, you receive His Spirit. Because His Spirit lives in you, fruit begins to grow.

This is the order:

You belong to Christ.
Because you belong, you receive His Spirit.
Because His Spirit lives in you, fruit begins to grow.

Belonging (Identity) → Spirit (Indwelling) → Crucifixion (Death to Flesh) → Fruit (Evidence)

The fruit of the Spirit is not behaviour modification. If it were that simple, it would be easy to fake it and do it of your own strength; but it is evidence of indwelling as we have shown using scripture and only those who belong can bear this fruit because only those who belong have the Spirit.

Why Fruit Cannot Be Faked

So when Paul says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh,” he is explaining that your identity influences your behaviour and your priorities. 

Belonging to Jesus comes first.
Crucifixion of the flesh flows from it.
All 9 expressions of the fruit then follow it.

He is also further clarifying that you do not crucify the flesh to belong but you crucify the flesh because you belong. The Spirit who seals you is the same Spirit who transforms you. He does not decorate the old self but puts it to death and produces something entirely new.

That is why fruit cannot be faked because it grows from belonging.

When Paul places crucifixion immediately after describing the fruit of the Spirit, he is not changing the subject. He is explaining it. He is showing us the soil beneath the sweetness. He is telling us where fruit actually comes from.

In the first blog, I said fruit cannot be faked because it shows up in private.

It shows up in the way you respond to a message that annoyed you before you even finished reading it. In the tone you use with your family after a long day when you’re tired and no one is clapping for your self-control. In the decision not to send that reply you typed out in frustration – the one you deleted instead of defending your pride.

Fruit appears in the restraint you exercise when nobody would have known if you reacted differently. When you choose not to exaggerate a story to make yourself look better. When you give credit even though you could have quietly taken it. When you close the tab, scroll past the temptation, or shut down the gossip instead of leaning in.

It shows up in the patience you display when the meeting runs over, when the prayer feels unanswered, when the opportunity hasn’t come yet, when the promise still looks delayed. Long after the performance would have faded, long after anyone would have noticed, fruit is still there – or it isn’t.

That’s why it can’t be faked.

Because no one can perform forever.

You can hold it together for a moment. You can smile through a few conversations. You can choose the “right” words in a couple of exchanges. But pressure and life has a way of revealing what applause can hide.

Eventually, what is truly rooted in you will speak. The “real” you will speak out.

It will speak when someone cuts you off in traffic and no one from church is in the car. It will speak when a colleague gets the recognition you secretly wanted. It will speak when your child asks the same question for the fifth time and your patience feels thin. It will speak when you are corrected publicly and your pride wants to defend itself immediately.

How long can you pretend to be patient before delay exposes you?

How long can you imitate kindness before inconvenience irritates you?

How long can you act gentle before someone challenges your authority and pride answers back?

And that’s just three of the nine.

Can you fake them all? All the time? In every setting?

Fruit grows where something else has died.

It grows where the need to win has been surrendered. Where the urge to retaliate has been crucified. Where the craving to be seen has been laid down. Only when the flesh loses its voice does the Spirit’s fruit become steady.

That’s the difference between acting and abiding.

The Soil Beneath the Sweetness

Paul is not romanticizing spiritual growth. He is anchoring it in surrender. The flesh, with its impulses and demands (its need to be first, to be right, to be seen) must be crucified. Not managed or negotiated with but crucified.

Because the Spirit does not play dress up the flesh. It will kill it to replaces it.

Only where the flesh has been put to death does real fruit begin to grow.

Think about Abraham. The promise was clear. The timeline was not. When delay stretched on, the flesh stepped in. Ishmael was born out of impatience. Isaac was born out of promise. One was produced by effort and the other by trust.

That is my attempt to explain crucifixion in using this bible story and it makes sense.

Abraham’s flesh was screaming, “Help God.”
But God and now the Spirit of God in us would also say, “Wait.”

Joseph’s life tells the same story. A dream in Genesis 37. A prison in Genesis 39. Years where nothing looked fruitful. But Genesis 39 keeps repeating something powerful: “The Lord was with Joseph.”

By Genesis 50, Joseph could say to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Forgiveness had grown, he had suffered long amongst others and that kind of fruit did not appear overnight. 

This  is what Paul is describing. That belonging to Christ means the flesh does not get the final word anymore.

Keeping in Step

Then Paul says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

Keeping in step means we must be attentive, sensitive and adjust accordingly.

Psalm 32 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go… Do not be like the horse or the mule.” A horse and mule resist; they pull against the lead. Someone keeping in step moves with it. They feel the tug and adjust.

Jesus modeled this perfectly. Isaiah 53 says He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. That was not a weakness but strength restrained. When accused falsely before Pilate, He did not scramble to defend Himself (John 19). When nailed to the cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). He kept in step with the Father even when misunderstood.

Paul ends the section by saying, “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

That is where fruit is tested.

Not in solitude but in community.

James 3:16 says where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder. But wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason.

Love. Peace. Gentleness.

Fruit.

And every time an impulse rises, the cross stands there again.

So you can crucify, return and keep in step.

What I Realized When I Reread

When I reread the first blog, I actually realised something sobering.

It is possible to admire and desire fruit but resist crucifixion. It is possible to want peace but refuse surrender, to want patience but avoid waiting and to want joy but resent the process.

But fruit that remains grows from lives that belong to Jesus and are crucified.

Jesus said in John 15, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit – fruit that will remain.”

Fruit remains when the flesh stays crucified and the Spirit sets the pace.

So here is the continuation I needed to say.

Staying in the Vine is not just about producing beautiful qualities.

But about dying daily, keeping in step and letting the Spirit interrupt your reactions, refine your tone, soften your posture, and humble your ambition.

It is about believing that belonging to Christ would result in your old self no longer ruling, however, this will not be because you’re impressive or of good character but because the Holy Spirit is helping you keep in step.

Stay in the Vine.
Crucify the flesh.
Keep in step with the Spirit.

Bear the Nine

And let the fruit that grows tell the truth about who is leading your life.