February 20 - What It Takes

February 20

What It Takes

Bible Reading: Galatians 5:16-23

Walking in the Spirit

¹⁶I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

HERE’S A QUICK little test for you.  See if you can match up the trees in the first list with the fruit those trees bear in the column on the right:

apple tree                               pecans

oak tree                                   pears

banana tree                            hickory nuts

pear tree                                 acorns

peach tree                               cherries

hickory tree                             apples

walnut tree                             walnuts

cherry tree                              peaches

            pecan tree                               bananas

Pretty dumb test, huh?  Everybody knows that apples come from apple trees and walnuts come from walnut trees.  No matter how hard it tries, a cherry tree could never produce apples; a pecan tree couldn't squeeze out a single banana.  Why not?  Because neither tree has what it takes to produce that kind of fruit.

Making right choices works the same way.  None of us can make right choices all the time.  Some days it seems as if we can't make right choices at all!  Because we're sinners, we don't have what it takes to produce that kind of fruit--not by ourselves, at least.  We might as well try to squeeze pears out of our ears!

So, does that mean we should just give up?  No, but it does mean that the only way we can consistently make right choices is through the Spirit of Christ living in us.  His Spirit lives in everyone who has trusted Christ for salvation.  It's only by relying on him every day--through prayer and Bible reading--that we can consistently make right choices.  In fact, you might say that making right choices is the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives when we trust God day by day.

REFLECT: What kind of choices have you been making recently?  Have they been sort of prickly, like a pineapple?  nutty, like an acorn?  sweet, like a cherry?  Sour, like a crabapple? something else?  What kind of choices do you want to make from now on?

ACT: Try making a simple song or poem out of Galatians 5:22 and 23.

PRAY: Here is an example of a prayer you may want to say the first thing every morning: "God, I praise you for this day that You have made.  I give Your Holy Spirit complete control of everything I do today.  Help me to make right choices all day long.  In Jesus' name. Amen."

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