April 16 ~ Galatians 5:22-26
God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. God's Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit. But don't be conceited or make others jealous by claiming to be better than they are.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Several years ago, I was shopping in the grocery store. I looked up as a very dirty, disheveled man came through the door. For a second, I thought to myself, “What is he doing in here?” When I got a closer look, he was a man I know very well… and he happens to be quite wealthy! Apparently he was doing yard work or heavy outside carpentry or something and happened to need an item from the store. I admit, I was ashamed of myself for my earlier thought!
Be honest… probably every single one of us has judged someone else on their appearance. We’ve deemed ourselves to be better than others based on this… or what kind of car they drive, whether they went to college, where they work, their neighborhood, or even how they smell. We quickly label people as smart or dumb, rich or poor, fat or skinny, and more. We lose our patience, our joy, our gentleness, and our self-control over the smallest of things. And often, our first thought about another person is, “What can he/she do for me?” We wonder how associating with them will affect our reputation – positively or negatively. Who does this person know and how can it help or hurt us? This is totally the opposite of what God desires and how operating in the Holy Spirit should affect us. Frankly, when we operate and behave any other way, we are pretty much denying Christ! We can’t have it both ways – either we serve ourselves or we serve God… and the reward for serving Him is love, happiness, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That sounds like traits I really want to have - don’t you?
Let’s look at our lives today and see where we need to toss out some old baggage and thought processes and fill ourselves more with the Holy Spirit. Let’s start to live like the children of the Most High God… saved and sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ. Let’s operate under the power of the Holy Spirit and see how good life can be. I’m ready… are you?
©2010 Debbie Robus
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