“..for the fruit of the Light consists of all goodness and righteousness and truth.” (Eph. 5:9)

Paul tells the faithful saints that their walk will produce fruit. The fruit of Light is easily recognized. Later on, he will point out that darkness does not produce fruit. We can easily figure this out. The tree of darkness is fruitless but the tree of light produces fruit. It gives meaning to the statement, “…by their fruit you will know them,” doesn’t it?

Paul categorized the fruit of Light into three broad areas. They are goodness, righteousness, and truth. Goodness is a recognizable trait. People who are producing goodness are modeling good behavior. They say good things and they do good things and we see them and say, “These people are good.”

Righteousness points to the reason for the goodness. To be right with God can only result in righteous acts. Righteousness is a result of God’s action on our behalf. He changes us from darkness to light and makes us righteous. If we are made righteous by God then we will certainly show righteous fruit in our daily walk I the Light.

Truth, of course, is a fruit which is produced by God as a result of our walking in the light. We are basically liars when left in the darkness. There is no deceit in the light and so we must live in and by truth.

The key to this verse I think is Paul’s use of the word all. All goodness and all righteousness and all truth.  How we know we are benefiting from the light is that this “all” is possible.

Task for today: You are a tree in God’s garden. It’s time to check your fruit. Walking in the light changes us and the fruit we bear should reflect that change. Time to work on our walk so that we promote good fruit in our world.