Apr 30 - Galatians 5:22-23

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit

is love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, generosity,

faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23

We ended yesterday with the prayer, “More, Lord. More.”

Believing that “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3), we believe that if we already believe, we already have the Holy Spirit. But who’s with me? Who wants more?

• Who wants more love, joy, and peace?
• Who wants more patience, kindness, and generosity?
• Who wants more faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?

Paul is saying that those who are filled with the Spirit should automatically radiate these qualities.

Except … do you radiate these qualities? Or are you more like an old car with a radiator that leaks?

Radiators overheat for several reasons.

• Sometimes they have cracks. And the necessary coolant leaks out.
• Sometimes the day is hot. And the pressure builds to overheating.
• More often – at least in my case – I forget to maintain proper levels of coolant.

That’s true in our lives. Sometimes our we fail to radiate love, joy, and peace because …

• Our good intentions have cracked and our behavior has sprung a sinful leak. (The “by contrast” in Galatians 5:22 is to the “works of the flesh” in verses 19-21. Have you ever sprung a leak through “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these”? I want more coolant than the heat of these sins.)

• Others of us boil over under heat and in the midst of pressure. (Has your faith ever seemed to escape like steam from an engine when you’ve been stressed?)

• Or – at least in my case – my spiritual drive fails because I’ve failed to maintain the proper levels of faith and devotion.

In these case, the Spirit doesn’t leave or forsake the believer. We’re still a car. We still have a spiritual engine. We simply need some maintenance before we can run again.

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who wants

to be radiater

instead of radiator