Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Fruit of the Spirit


Galatians 5:19-24 - The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 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.



Well…Paul just lays it on the line here. He is even brave enough to put in his letter specific sins that our human flesh …our natural nature gravitate to …if we never choose to let God live in our heart.  Pretty heavy list of obvious sins….but he throws a few in there that slap me on the hands in a subtle way. 



I know to well the trap of hatred…and I must admit too that I still struggle with selfish ambition.  If I mediate on the list for very long I would probably find that I have struggled with many more of them than I care to admit.  But the message here is not what we have and are doing wrong in this moment…it is what we can accomplish when we start relying on the spirit…when we begin to allow the spirit to convict us of the sins in this list…and make it detestable to us to practice them ever again.



Paul says that it is the spirit…the fruit of loving God so much that you just don’t want to do things that are worldly anymore.  When you are allowing the spirit to live IN you …you are changed into a person who is overflowing with love and joy.  Patience just appears when you need it. Every thing you do is kind and good and gentle.  You are transformed in heart….soul…and mind.



The transformation makes Satan sick to his stomach…he can’t stand that we allowed Christ to rule in our hearts…so he continues to lurk in the shadows…watching for opportunities to trick us into sin again….whispering in our ears ways to justify drinking….having affairs….watching porn….hating people who treat us in hurtful ways. That’s why Paul said in Romans  8:14-15, “ For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” ….   and why Jesus himself told us to deny ourselves and take up our crosses DAILY in Luke 9:23.



Father…I need you every hour…every day…you are most precious and I need you to help me watch out for the subtle trick of Satan that try to trap me back into sin.  Help me to crucify my sinful nature this morning…to really take time to examine every corner of my heart…to listen carefully to everything I say….to consider every thing I do and say…and make sure it is a fruit of your spirit….not sin from my old human nature creeping back into my life.  Wash my heart clean anew this morning and help me to guard my heart carefully from that sneaky Devil. Amen.reflect on consider

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