I have read Ephesians 4:29-32 many times. I’ve even memorized it. Yet this time when I read it, the Holy Spirit showed me something I had not connected before.

We eat the fruit of our lives. So do others. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eats its fruit.” Ask yourself this: are the words that I speak to myself and others life-giving?

Our lives are to bear succulent fruit. Proverbs 11:30 says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”

The fruit of unforgiveness is poisonous! Paul described that heart-fruit as: corrupt or defiling words, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and malice. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

Hebrews 12:15 says, “Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.”

Both the verse in Proverbs and Hebrews use a word that denotes something quick that can’t be retrieved. Have you ever said something that you wish you could have taken back, but it was too late?

The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 is: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Forgiving those who have hurt us, in the same way that the Lord has forgiven us, will bear fruit indicative that we are walking in His grace. Our fruit then will be gifts of grace to those who eat from the tree of our life.