In the responsibility we have as Christians, we are
displayed before non believers as a set of books that
should be read. Once the Holy Spirit comes upon us, our
library grows into the fruits that are produced in our
Christian walk.
Gal. 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."
Why is love listed first Because God is love. Everything He
does is through love, a perfect love. From love all these
other things will follow. Without love the Holy Spirit can not
operate in your life. Love is the greatest of ALL things.
As we walk in love, our Christian walk will then develop the
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentless and the self-control. Self-control being at the other
end of the scale.
Self-control holds up all the other things that come from
Love. If we can not be in self-control, none of these other
things could stand up. A lack of self-control only shows that
the world is still operating in our lives. Our anger can not
show others who Christ is in us. Anger creates a bad
atmosphere, it causes others to withdrawal from us as well
as the Holy Spirit which would leave us because of grief.
Anger from a human standpoint is done out of pride,
frustration, conceit, self righteousness and therefore doesn't
contain the attributes of a loving, sovereign God.
God doesn't author this feeling because nothing good can
come from it. It creates an atmosphere not only in us, but
those around us of sadness, unrest, anxiety, evil,
unfaithfulness, and abuse. Get the picture It is the creation
of a lie from hell and if it's not stopped, it will be the ruination
of many that get involved. This is the enemy's plan. He
removes the bookends and we soon fall down.
But Love and Self-Control are like the perfect bookends of
our lives that is held together by Faith. Faith is the
substance of all things hoped for but the things that are
unseen the Bible tells us. Faith is the creation of the fruits of
the Spirit that create who we are in our Christian walk with
Christ.
Without faith, nothing we do as a person counts for anything.
It doesn't matter what we do to show people we are a "good
person" on the outside, if we go home and mistreat our
families. God sees our hearts.
Jm. 2:17 "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead being by
itself."
James was saying that without true faith in the Holy Spirit to
guide us, nothing we can possibly do on our own is any
good. It's dead, it doesn't live because it can't produce any
genuine works by itself. Christ came to redeem us of our
sins, our insufficiency as humans. God knew we could not
possibly come to Him and be worthy on our own. Only
Jesus could change us into souls worthy to come to God,
through the sacrifice of His blood. All we have to do is
accept that blood, ask God to cover us with forgiveness of
sins and He will send us the Comforter that covers us with
the fruits of the Spirit. The human heart is naturally wicked
and therefore, we can not humanly possible do anything
"good" enough for God to accept us. Only the blood of Christ
is the ingredient that can transform our hearts into the heart
that God sees as one that is after His own heart. It now
produces the fruits of the Spirit.
Jm. 2: 18 "But someone may well say, "You have faith, and I
have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will
show you my faith by my works."
To sum this all up, faith without love, kindness, peace, joy,
patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self
control are useless. Faith doesn't come only through
hearing, but also through doing.
Are your bookends of faith in place What will people read in
between the bookends of your life
If there is something missing or out of place in between the
bookends of your life, get quiet and ask God to show you
what you need.
Remember that our actions do speak louder than our
words. What do your actions show others Do people draw
away from you or do they draw near to you Examine
yourself today through God's Word.
Vivian Gordon, has been ordained through God to teach His
living Word and make it come to life for those who need to
hear from Him. Her love for writing and teaching are a gift
from the Holy Spirit that others may read all the fruits that
have been given to her by the grace of God through her faith.
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