The Day of Rest

Sunday! The blogger rests. Go to church. See you tomorrow!

In Step

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25)

When I was a boy, I played various instruments in a marching band (euphonium, trumpet, snare, bass, and glockenspiel). I was a decent musician, but a poor marcher. I was always falling out of set. Two left feet. The quickest way to get back in step was to skip. However, as an adolescent boy, the mere thought of skipping in public mortified me. What would people think if they saw me skipping? I had this choice: look goofy skipping or look goofy by being out of step. I decided being out of step was worse. So I skipped. Exactly no one noticed. All my worrying about what people would think was unnecessary. I was back in step and no one even noticed.

I often wonder how people stay out of step with God because they are afraid of what other would think? Don't be afraid. Follow your heart. Skip into church next week. You have my permission!

Fruity People

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Paul lists eight virtues that arise from the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance (meaning cutting lots of slack), kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I meet a lot of people who struggle with one or more of these. I struggle with not a few myself. These virtues are like fruit and fruit doesn't just appear on trees. Fruit takes time. Depending on the species, fruit begins as buds and flowers in the spring, followed by hard, sour, inedible fruit in the summer. Autumn at last brings the harvest. In winter the fruit is stored away. These virtues are like that too. Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control don't just appear. God grows them in us over time. We should always seek them, but (as the bumper sticker says) be patient...God is still working on us.

One Word

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(Galatians 5:14, ESV)

One word: love. Greek: agape meaning selfless, no-strings-attached love. If anyone wants to know what being a Christian is all about, its love. God's love for us. Our love for one another. Even love for self. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13, "Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love." Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). John writes that God is love (1 John 4:8). Tender love. Tough love. Honest love. Forgiving love. Selfless love. Risk-taking love. Vulnerable love. Faithful love. That's us. Christians are lovers.

Freedom

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13, ESV)

You are completely free. The bad things in your past are washed away.
You are completely free. You will not truly die. You will leave earth and go to heaven forever.
You are completely free. You will not go to hell. Heaven is waiting for you.
You are completely free. You cannot fail. God is on your side.

Every one of those statements is true in Christ. Now what will you do? What you will do is love and serve.  Remember: for freedom God has set us free (Galatians 5:1)

You're a new lump (it's good thing, trust me)

A little leaven leavens the whole lump. (Galatians 5:9, ESV)

What a funny little phrase! Yeast has way of spreading and once the yeast gets into the dough, it is nigh impossible to get it out again. Only God can get the yeast out of the dough once its in...and he has! Yeast is sin. You are the lump (nothing personal, just quoting). Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, "Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7–8, ESV)" You're a new lump. Rejoice!

God, is that you?

This persuasion is not from him who calls you. (Galatians 5:8, ESV)

How do I know it's God talking and not just my imagination or worse, an evil voice? How do we learn to recognize any voice? We learn to distinguish the voices of people with whom we have active, caring relationships. There is the key: active, caring relationships. The best way to learn to differentiate God's voice from other voices is by having an active, caring relationship with God. How do you do that? It's really very simple: regular communication.

• First, talk to God every chance you get. In the car, turn off the radio and talk to him. Just say, "Hey, God. how's your day going? Let me tell you a little about about mine...." 
• Second, read your Bible everyday. Take it out at free moments. Read a little bit whenever you get a chance (like you are doing now). 
• Third, join a group of people who read and study the Bible together. Check your church for a small group.  
• Finally, go to church every Sunday. 

You will learn what God's voice sounds like and you will learn to distinguish his voice from others.