When we accept Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit of God and become His children. This is what rescues us from the "body of death" Paul refers to in Romans, and it is what changes us
.... in this verse God defines what that change should look like.
This is your spiritual thermometer. It doesn't matter how much you give to the church, how often you attend, or how hard you work...these attributes are what is expected and what gives your life power.
So let's take our temperature. Let's assume we are all eager to attain love, joy and peace, but what about the last seven?
Patience? We are a society of instant gratification with little to no attention span.
Kindness? Mention the political candidate your voting for and see how that goes.
Goodness? We can't even define it, as there is no accepted moral code.
Faithfulness? that has been "missing in action" from the boardroom to the bedroom for years.
And if you want to see the opposite of gentleness and self-control - try merging onto the freeway.
That's the bad news ... The good news is - a price was paid to make this fruit available to you. You can live differently than the world .. You have been GIVEN the ability to live out the fruit of the Spirit in your life.
I dare you to access that ability for one week.
Start today with Patience. Set your phone to remind you throughout the day to deliberately work on being patient with your family, friends, and co-workers. Tomorrow is Kindness, won't that surprise a few people? Next is goodness...and continue through the week.
If you will intentionally pursue the fruit of the Spirit each day for just one week. I assure you, you will never be satisfied with a small, powerless, self centered life again.
- Richard Foster
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