October 2020 week 1

Friday October 9th

Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control

Scripture: For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 2 Peter 2: 5-7

Often times we are in a position in life when we struggle with making decisions. More often than not it is a decision between what we want and directions given by our parents,spouses or others to whom we are to be faithful. We make the wrong decision due to lack of self control where we follow the desires of the body instead of remaining faithful to that which is good. Later we pay for that decision. Advertisment is often driven not by what we need but what we are made to think that we must have. We lose self control and end up spending money needlessly even though we complain about our finances. We say we want to lose weight but we fail to stay on the diet or exercise because of lack of self control. We want to have a closer relationship with God but we fail to faithfully communicate with him daily.

Thought for the day: If you really love then lack of self control will always lose out to what is neccesary for the good of those to whom you are faithful.

Thursday  October 8th

Forbearance, Kindness, Goodness

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love Ephesians 4: 1-2

Today I am deeply disturbed about the way we treat each other. There is less and less tolerance in the world today. We do not have to agree but we must not be disagreeable. My grandmother taught me that if you do not have something good to say about someone then say nothing at all.  Furthermore she said that being kind cost nothing. While we may make mistakes toward others it should be as a result of honest mistake rather than malicious and harmful intent. It has come to the point where it is quite difficult to have a civil debate without name calling. Tolerance does not mean agreeing with the other person but it does mean that differences must be treated just as that “differences”. Please remember that it can be quite difficult to say that you are a Christian but be unwilling to demonstrate that daily by adhering to the Fruit of the Spirit.

Thought of the day: Through true love I can be tolerant, kind and show goodness. Make the world a better place by not participating in  discussions that tolerate name calling and abusive behaviors.

Wednesday October 7

Joy and Peace

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Many people seek joy and peace in their lives. I have found that one must be content to have joy and peace and one cannot enjoy the blessings without true peace. If one is not content and is constantly seeking more, their life will be in a tormoil as they are are spending valuable hours wasted on wanting more and never satisfied with the blessings that God has provided. Another lesson in life is to understand that it is not how much you have but what you do with what you have. We can have joy and peace if we place our trust in God and really know that he will never leave us or forsake us.

Thought for the day:  Are you allowing your wants to keep you from having peace and joy?

Tuesday October 6

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13: 1

Love is not only a component of the Fruit of the Spirit but one could argue that it is the cornerstone of the Fruit or the lifeline that provides nourishment. I would suggest that the fruit would not exist without the cornerstone of nourishment. Our life must be centered around love. The giving and receiving of love is paramount to the life of one who professes to be a Christian. Usually when one develops a list of items unless otherwise noted the most important is listed first so I have decided that love is listed first in the listing of fruit because of its importance. I have also decided its importance because 1 John 4:8 says Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love

Monday October 5

Fruit of the Spirit

   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law  Galatians 5:22-23

Too often people ask the question of how to live a productive and happy life. As in most cases the answer can be found in the Bible. There is a consensus among physicians that we should eat fruit daily and it is not just one type of fruit but a variety of fruit. The Fruit of the Spirit is quite similar. To have a spiritually healthy life we must make sure that we eat of the fruit daily. We must understand that all of these components are necessary which is why it it not fruits but a single fruit. Just like a recipe for your favorite cake, it will not taste the same when an ingredient is missing. As a non baker I never understand why most cake and bread recipes include salt but they all do and without salt something is different. So with the ingredients listed in the Fruit of the Spirit all are essential. Let us seek daily to understand the importance of each in our total spiritual walk.

Thought for the day: Is there a reason why love is listed first?