Thought for Monday, 23 October

 Galatians 5:22-26

But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us:

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Here there is no conflict with the law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.  If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.

It's a beautiful Autumn morning, there is a dusting of frost on the grass and the sun is shining on my shed roof which had some of its’ felt ripped off it by the high winds a couple of days ago.  It seems in this world that there is always something that requires doing!!!

With this being the time of year when we celebrate harvest, I thought this passage of scripture was particularly appropriate when it describes the types of behaviour we should be demonstrating in our day to day lives as fruits of the Holy Spirit if the Spirit indeed lives within us.

Earlier in the chapter, Paul teaches us that if anything is stopping us demonstrating these loving qualities in our lives, it is not God who is preventing us because it is God who called us initially to follow him and it would make no sense to call us and then put barriers in the way of us doing what he requires from us.  He also teaches us that if we are in a group of like-minded individuals, it can only take one person to adversely affect all the others.  He also teaches us that God will judge that person accordingly, so we all need to make sure that we do not become that person.

Paul reminds us that the whole law can be summed up in one command which is; ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ and if instead showing this love to one another, we are ‘biting and devouring’ one another, we have to watch out and beware of destroying one another.

When reflecting on the teachings of this passage, it makes me think of being involved with groups of people over the years in work situations and in social situations, the relevance of these words have lost nothing despite having been written a couple of thousand years ago.  I have seen and continue to see examples of the behaviour described in this piece of scripture, both the positive and the negative and it does us good to take a step back and look at ourselves objectively in this regard and change anything that needs to be changed.

Prayer - Loving Father, We desire to reflect the nature and character of the Lord Jesus and to show forth the fruit of His Spirit in our lives. Prune away all those areas in us that are inhibiting the growth of spiritual fruit being produced in us, and may we grow in grace and do only those things that are pleasing to You, for Your praise and glory. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen