i've given up trying to be good. no longer will i waste time simply trying to be thankful. its not worth it trying to be loving, joyful, or kind. sure, i can try and possibly come close to succeeding in any of these areas, but any attempt that is full of myself and empty of the Spirit of God is ended in futility. for the longest time, i always tried to do these things, failed, and wondered why. all my attempts had nothing but my own will in them. i would look at Galatians 5 and think, OK, i'm a Christian so this is how I should be. it never occurred to me that if i am full of the Spirit, this is how my life will look like. this is often the trap we fall in when trying to follow God's Law. we think, since You want me to be this way, God, I will do this. we lose sight of the fact that we do not accomplish His Will by human effort, but through His Spirit. that is specifically why the passage calls these things the 'fruit of the Spirit,' not the fruit of our effort or the fruit of our will, because that isn't how we reap these aspects of God's Law. therefore, our goal should not necessarily be to fulfill God's Law, but to be intoxicated by His Spirit (i always thought that was the best way to put it). we begin and continue with the Spirit, and the rest will follow.
2 comments:
I really like this image, but way more importantly, I love reading your thoughts. You're right on. I see wisdom and discernment in your writing and art... beyond a worldly gift. So I want to encourage you... Learn to pray. Feed on the Word. Nourish your new life and starve the old man!
I love what you had to say about contrasts. I would say that word sums up most of what God has been teaching me in the last year.
this is my favorite graphic to date. It is full of color and has the main point of your thoughts so evident. Thanks for reminding me I don't have to be good...He is good and that's enough!
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