Consider the difference between spiritual gifts and spiritual fruit. Here’s a parable: My son has always been above average: even as a child, he entered the terrible-two’s at 18 months. In the three or four days leading up to his second birthday he was nearly impossible to live with: temper tantrums a dozen times a day, unhappy with everything around him. Finally, on the morning of his second birthday I looked at my wife and said, “That’s it! I’ve had it! There will be no birthday party today. Take back all his presents–he doesn’t deserve them.”
Of course, I made that up: who would refuse to give a birthday gift simply because a child was acting, well, childish? Now, years later, my son is in his thirties: married, gainfully employed, following Jesus, and a delight to be around. The child has become a fruitful adult. Although he was a gifted child, he did not yet possess spiritual fruit.
