Its amazing how often this world compels us towards our worse selves.

We want to secure what we need for ourselves and our families…   so we worry and work and obsess and, even when we have enough, we still worry and work and obsess some more.

We want to feel good about ourselves…   so we listen to the marketplace telling us we are sad and poor and ugly unless, of course, we consume their products or services.

We want joyful hope…   but we settle for addiction to stuff that gives only momentary pleasure like substances, like media, like shopping.

In the process we are stripped of our God-given peace and contentment, are pitted against one another in rivalry and competition, and rocked between extremes of self-gratification and empty worthlessness until we are sick, disoriented and lost.

Of course, this is not the way God planned for things to be. This is what happens when sin (aka addiction to selfishness) rules our hearts, our minds, our markets, and our world. Imagine what it would be like if we gave ourselves, and everything else, back to God’s will and way:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:22-26)

The way of life that God has for us gives rise to the fruits of the Spirit. Notice these fruits aren’t fruits that come from striving, consuming, or competing…   they are fruits that come from commitment, compassion, and caring.

Let’s not settle for the life this world tries to hand us…     the life this world passes off as ‘normal’ or even ‘good’. Let’s embrace the life God has for us and watch the fruits of the Spirit grow in us and in the world through us.

 

Pastor Erik