God wants a heart of repentance and a fruitful life.
Galatians 5:22:
“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”
I heard a message recently about a couple who, although both were Christians, had differing beliefs on their understanding of God and His will. The husband had always lived with a fear of her understanding of God because it was different. A new neighbor of theirs had a hip operation and asked this man’s wife if she could assist while she recovered. For two weeks, this man’s wife poured her life into helping this neighbor. At the end of this two weeks, the man asked his wife why she had worked so hard and given so much of her time considering “we barely even know them?” The wife then looked at her husband and said, “Because I’m kind.” The husband was immediately hit with a reality…that he was supposed to know that about his own wife.
I believe this is a good example of the fruit of the Spirit. It wasn’t that she was kind apart from God. It was that she was allowing the Holy Spirit to be kind through her.
Ephesians 2:7-10:
“Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
The world around us is filled with men, women and children in the process of perishing. They are starving for spiritual food and God wants to meet their spiritual hunger through you, me…and all other like-minded followers. Let’s continue to ask him to give us the faith to “show up” in the midst of a world that is perishing so that, through us, He can always be glorified.
