“Fruit flies, Gnats and other Nuisances”

The hot summer months bring out lots of insects and other critters. One of the most bothersome for me is fruit flies and gnats. These tiny insects are barely visible but seem to love to make their presence known by flying around in groups and swarming around food, beverages, and you.

I often wondered where do these fruit flies and gnats come from and how can I quickly get rid of them. So, I did some investigation. This is what I found out:

• Fruit flies and gnats seem to appear out of nowhere
• Fruit flies and gnats can quickly multiply in number, and be tough to get rid of once they’re around
• Fruit flies and gnats don’t come from spontaneous generation
• Fruit flies are built to find fermenting fruit
• Though small, they can detect the smell of overly ripe fruits and vegetables from a good distance away
• Because these insects are so tiny, they can get in through window screens or crevices around windows or doors
• Once inside, they reproduce. Before you know it, you’ve got yourself a full-fledged fruit fly and gnat infestation
• Sometimes, fruit flies hitch a ride into your home on fruits or vegetables and fruit flies lay eggs on the skin of very ripe or fermenting fruit
• To get rid of fruit flies you must get rid of the overly ripe or spoiled fruit that it is feeding/gathering around

Wow! That is a lot of information about those small insects. Let’s examine the theme, “Fruit flies, Gnats and other Nuisances”

Theme: “Fruit flies, Gnats and other Nuisances”

Read Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Those facts about fruit flies and gnats caught my attention from the point that fruit flies and gnats can detect the smell of overly ripe fruit. This means that fruit that has not been used and now is overly ripe or perhaps even fermenting triggers a fruit fly infestation, which is a tremendous nuisance.

I believe the same is true about the development and nurturing of the “Fruit of the Spirit”. Galatians 5:22-23 states that there is spiritual fruit. As a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit works within you to develop and nurture spiritual fruit (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).

But much like fruit that grows on a tree or vine (i.e. apples, berries, oranges, bananas, grapes…), spiritual fruit must be put to use in the Christian’s life. Otherwise the fruit will become overly ripe and begin to spoil or become rotten.

You might wonder, “What is the connection between spiritual fruit and fruit flies and gnats?” Well, glad you asked. Fruit flies and gnats gather around fruit that is overly ripe; fruit that should have been used, but instead was left to spoil or rot. The same is true for spiritual fruit. When you are not using the virtues of the “Fruit of the Spirit” (spiritual fruit), you begin to get plagued by the small nuisances in life. Things that should not bother you become enormous nuisances. Things that if you were living and nurturing spiritual fruit that would be easily ignored, now begin to be extremely bothersome to you and seem to multiply, come out of nowhere, and spontaneously generate.

When these nuisances seem to be getting the best of you, rest assured this is happening because you are not using the spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that God has given you through the Holy Spirit. Your spiritual fruit is spoiling on the tree or vine. So, pray to God for a new start and begin to use your spiritual fruit, and those nuisances or symbolically, those fruit flies and gnats, will begin to disappear out of your life because they won’t have anything to feed on.

Amen!