Fruit

We read in Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
For many years, I understood this passage to mean that we were supposed to do these things.  But not too long ago, the  meaning  of the words really jumped out at me.  These things are the "fruit" of the Spirit. In other words, when we see living a life, directed and controlled but the Spirit, we will see this fruit.
An analog works really well here. Do the apples that grow on the tree make the tree an apple tree, or do they reveal that it is an apple tree? I think it's pretty clear that it's the latter.
So too with our lives.  Living a life that manifests love, joy, peace patience, kindness, etc does not make us a Christian, it reveals that we are part of the body of Christ.
The next question then is, what is being said when we do not see these things in our life?