"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." Galatians 22-23a I have learned much about this verse this week. There is so much here to take in. There are nine of these beautiful qualities we are to live in. As the Spirit lives in us, we are to live out these qualities of the Spirit in our actions and words. As Christ lives in us, as He moves in us, we the branches of His vine are to carry out His works of His fruit. We cannot just pick the ones that are easy, just as we cannot let go of the ones that are hard. I have learned you just cannot carry out one, you must carry out all. You cannot carry out one without the other. For one of these qualities to be present, they all must be active in our lives. We can't show love if there is no kindness. We cannot show gentleness if there is no self-control. No peace without joy, just as no goodness without long suffering. Each one of these is to bring out fruit, when we are sharing beautiful fruit others will see the true Spirit living in us. When we are not living with these I have learned that we are living selfishly.When we are living in our flesh the Spirit cannot live through us. Each one of these is letting go of ourselves and allowing Christ to shine. Each one is a choice. We cannot just love those who are friendly to us, we cannot just show kindness when it benefits us, for when we try to put on the fruit of the Spirit it has to be pure, it has to be all Jesus. Have you ever seen the fake fruit sitting on tables as decorations? Some of it looks really good, almost real, but as soon as you get close enough, as soon as you pick it up, you can realize just how fake it is. The fruit of the Spirit is just not a decoration for our lives to appear good, it is a pure love from Jesus, it is giving of ourselves with a cheerful heart. As we walk this week with the Lord may we come to know and understand we must give all or nothing. Jesus is pure and for His Spirit to live in us we must lay down our flesh, our own selfish desires. I don't just want to be as the fake fruit on the table, I want others to take and eat of the Spirit, I want others to enjoy the taste, take those seeds and plant them for others to grow, for others to see. Just think if we all made the choice to live with the fruit of Spirit daily, what a difference in it would make in everything we do. Our attitudes, our actions and our words to others will not be full of flesh, but filled with the Spirit of Christ. Thank you Lord for teaching me this week that for the Spirit to shine through my life, I must be living in Your Spirit daily~
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
the fruit of the Spirit
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." Galatians 22-23a I have learned much about this verse this week. There is so much here to take in. There are nine of these beautiful qualities we are to live in. As the Spirit lives in us, we are to live out these qualities of the Spirit in our actions and words. As Christ lives in us, as He moves in us, we the branches of His vine are to carry out His works of His fruit. We cannot just pick the ones that are easy, just as we cannot let go of the ones that are hard. I have learned you just cannot carry out one, you must carry out all. You cannot carry out one without the other. For one of these qualities to be present, they all must be active in our lives. We can't show love if there is no kindness. We cannot show gentleness if there is no self-control. No peace without joy, just as no goodness without long suffering. Each one of these is to bring out fruit, when we are sharing beautiful fruit others will see the true Spirit living in us. When we are not living with these I have learned that we are living selfishly.When we are living in our flesh the Spirit cannot live through us. Each one of these is letting go of ourselves and allowing Christ to shine. Each one is a choice. We cannot just love those who are friendly to us, we cannot just show kindness when it benefits us, for when we try to put on the fruit of the Spirit it has to be pure, it has to be all Jesus. Have you ever seen the fake fruit sitting on tables as decorations? Some of it looks really good, almost real, but as soon as you get close enough, as soon as you pick it up, you can realize just how fake it is. The fruit of the Spirit is just not a decoration for our lives to appear good, it is a pure love from Jesus, it is giving of ourselves with a cheerful heart. As we walk this week with the Lord may we come to know and understand we must give all or nothing. Jesus is pure and for His Spirit to live in us we must lay down our flesh, our own selfish desires. I don't just want to be as the fake fruit on the table, I want others to take and eat of the Spirit, I want others to enjoy the taste, take those seeds and plant them for others to grow, for others to see. Just think if we all made the choice to live with the fruit of Spirit daily, what a difference in it would make in everything we do. Our attitudes, our actions and our words to others will not be full of flesh, but filled with the Spirit of Christ. Thank you Lord for teaching me this week that for the Spirit to shine through my life, I must be living in Your Spirit daily~
