“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.”
Ephesians 5:8-10
(This photo was taken in August of 2016 in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington)
It does not surprise me that this is the last thing listed in the Galatians 5:22-23 writing about the Fruit of the Spirit…why? Because as with all aspects of faith it all comes back to us…our attitude, our perspective and most of all our choices. We are blessed with free will, free to choose how we will act in this world.
Free to choose Love or hate
Free to choose Joy or sadness
Free to choose Peace or fighting
Free to choose Patience or hurriedness
Free to choose Kindness or be mean
Free to choose Goodness or cruelty
Free to choose Faithfulness or distraction
Free to choose Gentleness or be unbalanced
Free to choose to use the Fruits of the Spirit using Self-Control
Our guide for all of this is Jesus. God sent him so that reconciliation with God is always available. He loves us and wants us to choose to love him. Self-Control is not easy, I know from experience and I struggle with it as much as anyone.
Getting better at Self-Control is a choice in itself…it is choosing to live a healthy life style. Start by doing devotions in the morning and/or at night every day. Make those 5-10 minutes a priority and be quiet and calm with the Word every day. Given time it will help…then look at how you are physically caring for yourself…be sure you are eating regularly, getting rest and sleep and take a walk for exercise. When you feel things are out of control stop and pray. All of this is possible for anyone; it does not take a large financial investment just commitment. I know how the world we live in will try to distract and dissuade you from continuing…don’t quit. Even when you fall down and feel like you are failing, God is still right there saying “I understand, my own Son experienced frustration and temptation in the world. You are forgiven.”
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
Galatians 5:22-26
I pray we all we seek to live using the Fruits of the Spirit in all we do every day.
Take a look at the picture above one more time…choose to see what is on the other side through that opening…
May God’s Peace be with you
So in striving to live a Life by the Spirit what does Goodness do for us? That is what we are typically interested in…what will it do for “us or me”. For starters, that perspective usually leads us away from Goodness because of the self-focus. As with all the Fruits of the Spirit, we need to focus on our interactions with others and our relationship with God. Some would argue that Goodness and Kindness are the same thing…for me the difference is Kindness usually involves some sort of self-sacrifice, giving up something of value for another and Goodness is choosing between doing Good versus doing bad things or doing nothing at all.
Choosing to do Good in this world can begin to feel frustrating as you are striving to contribute in a positive way and it seems others keep pushing you back or pushing you down. Do not quit, often times when we do something Good we may not get to see the impact it had on someone and we need to be Ok with that…we need to have faith that whether we see the results or not it is better to do Good for others and for God. The apostle Paul writes in the Book of Galatians…
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Galatians 6:7-10
Choose to sow some Goodness to your part of the world today and it will grow.
Tomorrow I will be back to discuss Faithfulness.
Peace.
Take Your Faith With You 