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A while back (July 15, 2011), I suggested that perhaps God was trying to teach me patience, even though I hadn’t prayed for such spiritual development. In the last couple of weeks, the lessons took on a new twist. Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter may have noticed that my posts have been a little shorter and a little less frequent than usual. That is because I was visiting the land that technology forgot. I was there because my parents live there, and I like to see them even if it means disconnecting from the rest of the world. They live in a small community where there is no cell service, and my mother uses an eight year old computer to connect to the Internet by dial-up. Some of you may not even know what that is; suffice to say it is a slow, slow process. For my mother it is perfectly sufficient, but anyone who wants to use Twitter is out of luck. Thus the lessons in patience, as I tried to connect with my phone on any occasion that we happened to drive through an area with a signal.

A lot of people refer to Job—as in, he has the patience of Job—when they are looking for an example of patience, but no one is more patient than God Himself. After all, He has to put up with all of our inadequacies, mistakes and outright rebellion. He is patient with us because He thinks we’re worth waiting for; He does not want a single one of us to perish. (II Peter 3:9)

David understood this quality of God when he cried out to Him in Psalm 86. David was once again in a position where he desperately needed God’s help; he was being pursued by ruthless men who sought to take his life. (Psalm 86:14) But in Psalm 86:15, David recognizes the attributes of God that are able to save him from his situation. We too, can have these attributes in us. By inviting the Holy Spirit to live in us, and getting to know God better, we will have more of this fruit, (Galatians 5:22-23, August 8, 2011) including patience.

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We live in a turbulent world. We never know what is going to happen to us next. It could be a natural disaster like a tornado or a flood, a house fire, a car accident, a sudden death in the family or a rebellious child who takes our focus away from what we would rather be doing. Somehow things never seem to go according to our plans. Thankfully, we don’t have to rely on our circumstances to find peace.

The word ‘peace’ was a common Hebrew greeting; it was said as we would say ‘good-bye’. That is why in John 14:27, Jesus emphasized the word ‘my’ when He was saying good-bye to His disciples. He was about to leave the earth and return to His Father. Rather than just saying the word ‘peace’, He said ‘my peace I give to you’. He clarified that He wasn’t giving peace the way that the world does. His peace was different, all-sufficient, ever-lasting. His peace would ease their sorrow at His departure, and bring them courage to continue without His earthly presence.

Jesus had already given the disciples an example of His peace when they were out in a boat on the stormy lake. (Luke 8:22-25) Jesus had been asleep in the boat when the storm came up, and the disciples were afraid. Jesus rebuked the storm, and then addressed the disciples, “Where is your faith?” That is the key to peace: faith. If we completely trust God to take care of us in every situation, if we believe His promises that He wants the best for us, (Jeremiah 29:11, Matthew 7:11) if we know that somehow everything will work out for our good because we are called according to His purpose, (Romans 8:28) we will have peace.

Few of us will ever face the kind of trials that David faced. He made a lot of mistakes, (January 11, 2011) and he fought a lot of battles, and illness, and there was frequently someone trying to take his life.

Many of David’s psalms started out as laments. He cried out to God, and asked for mercy, healing or protection from his enemies. Psalm 13 (February 11, 2011) is a good example of this. David starts out by asking “How long, Lord?”, but he ended by trusting in God’s faithfulness, rejoicing in His deliverance and praising God. Somehow in the midst of all David’s trials, he was able to find joy.

In Psalm 30, David was in a similar situation. He had been praying to God for healing. He had asked for mercy and deliverance. In Psalm 30:11-12 David’s prayers were answered. His lament was turned to joy. The reason that David was considered a man after God’s own heart is not because He always did the right thing and never made mistakes. It was because He always turned to God. And whether his prayers were answered the way he wanted them to be or not, David continued to trust in God and praise Him for His faithfulness.

Joy is not the same as happiness; it does not depend on circumstances. If we want to have joy we need to find contentment in whatever we are facing, do the best we can in the situation, and leave the rest to God.

There are many references to love in the Bible. John 3:16 is probably the best known, and the one that clearly tells us how much God loves us, and the gift that awaits us if we believe in Him. Matthew 22:37-40 outlines what Jesus considers to be the two most important commandments. Both of them require us to love, both God and others. 1 John 4:7-8 commands us to love because love is from God. If we do not love, we do not know God, because God is love.

But 1 Corinthians 13 is known as the love chapter; it is the passage that describes most thoroughly what love is. In my last post, I said that the fruit of the Spirit is produced in us because we invite the Spirit into our lives to work through us. It is not through our striving that we achieve these qualities. But that does not mean that we should not work to exhibit these characteristics in our lives. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to do it, but it is through our cooperation that He is able.

In Greek there are three words that are translated ‘love’. Eros is a self-centered, physical love, the kind displayed between a husband and a wife. Philos is a considerate, affectionate love, as we would (or at least should) show to our fellow human beings. Agape is a term that was coined to express Christ-like love. It is recognized not by the feelings it invokes, but by the actions it displays—the actions described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

True love, God’s love, will never end. Prophecies, language and knowledge will all end, but love will not. Faith, hope and love will remain, but the greatest of these is love.

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Recently we have been talking about having discernment, being led by the Holy Spirit, and the results of following our own sinful desires. Now let’s look at what happens when you allow the Holy Spirit to be the influence over your decisions and actions. It is outlined in Galatians 5:22-23.

Take note that this passage says that “the fruit of the Spirit is”. There are two important points here. First, the term fruit is singular. All of these characteristics are one fruit; they are all given in equal abundance when we allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us. Secondly, it is not the fruit of our works or striving; it is the fruit of the Spirit. We cannot achieve these things on our own. When I was younger, I used to think that I had to work at exhibiting these qualities in my life. I would try to be loving and joyful and all of the other things listed here, and thereby gain more of the Holy Spirit, which I thought was a noble goal. The problem was that I had it all backward. What a relief to find out that it wasn’t up to me to become good and kind and gentle. Especially gentle.

We become these things by having more of the Holy Spirit. That part is up to us. We need to choose, and it is a daily, perhaps hourly, choice to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is done through reading and studying the Bible and through prayer. This is how we get to know God better, and the better we know Him, and the more we allow Him to lead our lives, the more the Holy Spirit will work through us. The word fruit is an apt description. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. (John 15:5) We are not the source of all that goodness, but it is our choice to remain in the vine and allow the fruit to be produced through us.

Over the next three weeks I will look at each of the nine elements of the fruit of the Spirit.

Can you imagine what a wonderful world it would be if we all followed the two commandments found in Matthew 22:37-40? If everyone’s goal was to please God, and to help each other, the conflict in this world would be erased. You can be sure that Satan is doing everything within his power to keep that from happening. We are in a battle between the ways of Satan and the ways of God. No matter whose side we choose, there will be a constant struggle until Jesus returns.

Galatians 5:19-21 outlines some of the results of following our own sinful desires. Paul gives examples of sexual sins, religious sins, societal sins, and those stemming from a lack of self-control. He finishes his list by letting us know that it is not exhaustive; it includes other actions that put ourselves ahead of God and others. He warns us that by engaging in such activities we risk being consumed by one another, (Galatians 5:15) and that if this is the kind of behaviour we choose, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:21) That is not to say, that if we choose to follow God, and to be led by the Holy Spirit, we will never sin, but we must not cater to our sinful nature nor let it dominate our life.

How do we prevent our sinful desires from winning out over the ways of love and freedom in God? We ask the Holy Spirit to help us. We choose every day to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. We cannot do this on our own, and God will not do it without our consent. We are not puppets. God could have taken all these desires away from us when we made the decision to follow Him. Why didn’t He? I believe it is because He always wants to allow us to have free choice, but also that He wants us to realize how much we need Him. We need to realize that we can’t make it on our own. He wants us to acknowledge Him, to remain in communion with Him, and to rely on Him to help us through every situation we face. The good news is that if we choose God’s way, the Spirit will be a continual help to us, and we will be on the winning side.

In my last post, August 1, 2011 I said that being filled with and led by the Holy Spirit would give us the tools we need to develop discernment. That made me think of Galatians 5:25. Being led by the Spirit, requires that we make a conscious choice to follow the Spirit. This should not be considered a burdensome task, but part of the freedom of living for Christ. Let’s look at the context of this verse beginning today with Galatians 5:13-14.

Galatians 5:13 tells us that we were called to freedom; God never intended for us to be bound by religious legalism. But there is a wide span between legalism and lawlessness, and we should not use the freedom we have in Christ to indulge our sinful nature. Just as a rock climber needs a foothold to get to the next step, we provide a foothold to Satan if we give in to our sinful desires. Being free does not mean having no boundaries. A.T. Pierson has said:

True freedom is found only in obedience to proper restraint. A river finds liberty to flow, only between banks: without these it would only spread out into a slimy, stagnant pool. Planets, uncontrolled by law, would only bring wreck to themselves and to the universe. The same law which fences us in, fences others out; the restraints which regulate our liberty also insure and protect it. It is not control, but the right kind of control, and a cheerful obedience which make the free man.

Instead of using our freedom to indulge ourselves, we should use it to serve one another. We are of course expected to obey the laws of our land, (Romans 13:1) but we also need to obey the most important commandments of Christ, which are to love God with everything we have within us, and love others as we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-40) Love should be the motive and the result of all Christian behaviour.

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I recently read a sermon by John Piper that seems to follow quite nicely the themes of last week’s posts on judgement. His scripture passage was Romans 16:17-20.

He started by saying that some people focus on truth and others focus on unity. Those who focus on unity may be more willing to overlook the truth, or in my view, to even question what truth is, in order to keep the peace. It might seem arrogant to insist that you are right and someone else is wrong, especially in this era when it is so popular to believe that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and there is no absolute truth. Some people believe that the only way to have peace, or unity, is for everyone to accept the beliefs of everyone else. The term usually used for this is ‘tolerance’.

Piper feels that we should be able to have truth, he used the term purity, and unity together, and that we should have purity for the sake of unity. Romans 16:17 tells us that we need to avoid people who cause divisions. You might wonder if by avoiding them we too are causing divisions. But Paul requires us to be united based on truth, the essential truth of Scripture. There are some things discussed in the Bible that we have choice over, and some things that are part of sound doctrine. The way to be able to tell the difference between these two, which is the subject of much doctrinal debate I might add, is to know the Scriptures and to be led by the Holy Spirit.

This passage must also be addressed in light of other verses in the Bible. We need to love our enemies, (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27) and we need to share the good news of Jesus with everyone. (Mark 16:15) Paul was not advocating that we have no contact at all with those who believe differently, but that our contact makes it clear that if you claim to be a Christian and do not live according to the sound doctrine of the Bible, then we cannot continue to have the same kind of relationship.

False teachers are smooth talkers. They make their point of view sound logical, or loving, accepting of everyone. Their goal is to win you away, so they will do it with flattery, with kind and enticing words. (Romans 16:18) But beware, false teachers do not have your best interests at heart; they serve their own appetites. Knowing what the Bible teaches and being filled with and led by the Holy Spirit will give you the tools to have the discernment you need.
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If you would like to read or hear John Piper's sermon, you will find it here.

In my last post (July 27, 2011), I talked about Matthew 7:1-5, and the fact that we should not judge others. In the same way that we judge them, we also will be judged. That does not mean that we should abandon all of our faculties for judgement and discernment. God gave us our brains for a purpose. In 1 John 4:1-6 we are told to use them.

I was particularly drawn to 1 John 4:4, because it is a very encouraging verse. We are from God, we have conquered them, and we are on the winning side because the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. It is good to know that even though we are struggling through this life, we will have victory. Halleluljah! But let’s take a closer look at that verse. Whenever I see a pronoun—in this case the word ‘them’—I want to make sure that I understand what it represents. Who have we conquered? In this case, it is the false prophets from 1 John 4:1.

We are living in the midst of a spiritual battle. (Ephesians 6:12) We are at war with the spiritual forces of evil whether we want to believe it or not, so we need to be careful what we believe. Satan’s whole purpose is to deceive us and to turn us away from God, (1 Peter 5:8, June 3, 2011) and he has many people on his team. How do we know what is true? It may seem harder to figure out in these days when few people believe in absolute truth, but 1 John 4:2-3 shows us the way. If the spirit confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He came to earth in the flesh, that He is who He claimed to be, then it is a spirit of truth, a spirit from God. If the spirit denies Christ, says that Christ is not from God, it is a spirit from the enemy.

Those who are from God will understand and listen to those who are from God. 1 John 4:5-6 Those who are from the world will not; they will tell us that we’re crazy. They may tell us that there is no God or that we might as well believe in little green men too. But do not despair, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

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Have you seen the recent Swiss Chalet commercial? A man and a woman are eating ribs. She has a massive smear of rib sauce on her face, and he has a tiny little speck on his. He wants to tell her, but he hesitates, trying to find the right words, trying to be polite. While he pauses, she says, “You have some rib sauce on your face.” She was quick to point out his mess without paying any attention to her own. This reminds me of the parable of the speck and the beam from Matthew 7:1-5.

Jesus was teaching his followers not to judge. A lot of people use this passage to defend themselves against others who would correct them. They quote Matthew 7:1, but they often misrepresent the point. There are certainly times in our lives when we do have to use some judgement—to discern right from wrong, to settle disputes, to make good choices—but we should not use it to condemn others for things that we haven’t been able to overcome ourselves. This is especially true of motives. We should not presume to know what is in another person’s heart or to understand why they have chosen the path they have. To judge a person’s heart is the responsibility of God alone.

Jesus uses hyperbole—exaggeration—to illustrate His point. Imagine, trying to get a speck of dirt out of someone else’s eye. It’s a very difficult thing to do in the best of circumstances. You need excellent lighting and a willing patient. Now imagine trying to do that if you had a beam the size of a tree trunk sticking out of your own eye. You wouldn’t be able to get close enough to see the speck in your friend’s eye. You would certainly need to deal with your own problem first. Before you judge another’s heart, make sure that your heart is right. If it is, you won’t need, or want, to judge. And make sure you have a lot of serviettes handy when eating ribs.

If you haven't seen it, watch the commercial here: