The Easy & The Difficult
For many, making lists is just something they do, and oftentimes (like every day of my life) I am a member of that group because lists help us accomplish things. It is a fact: there is no way we can ever do a task we need to do IF we DO NOT remember the task we need to do. Hence, the list is a helpful tool. Maybe that’s why God gives us a list, a list of what NOT-TO-DO, followed by a list of TO-DO-THINGS He helps us produce within our lives.
Let’s read these two lists together and be reminded what we believers, what Christians, what God’s children should NOT BE and should BE focused upon and thankful for that God is cultivating within our lives as we go.
Before we begin, let us remind ourselves of some God-Truths:
- Mankind is a fallen human being. We were created in iniquity, and we have been a fallen creature since the Garden of Eden.
- God knows us intimately (the good, the bad, and the ugly we try to hide from the world).
- God knows us & God loves us anyway.
- God loves us “just as we are” because God does not expect us to “clean up” ourselves first and then follow him. NO. He comes to us “just as we are in our sinful state” and “meets us “right where we are” smack dab when we are stuck in our sin.
- Jesus died upon the cross of Calvary to provide a way out of our sinful state that separates us from a most-Holy God.
- Jesus arose from the grave three days later, providing us with the ONLY WAY to walk forward in NEWNESS of LIFE found ONLY THROUGH JESUS.
- We become God’s children once we ACCEPT God’s Saving Grace by Faith & Once we BELIEVE in the Saving Mercy and Grace Found in Jesus, God’s Only Begotten Son & Once we CONFESS our Sins to HIM!
- Once we receive God’s Saving Grace, our lives become a daily walk with Jesus as we are guided by God’s Holy Spirit. As we stumble in our sin (because we are still saved-by-the-blood-of-Jesus-human beings living within a sinful, fallen, human body) God will continually provide the way of HIS FORGIVENESS for our sins.
- We are CONSTANTLY BEING SAVED BY GOD: DAY-BY-DAY-BY-DAY-BY. . . & we will struggle with a sinful nature until the day God brings us home to heaven.
- Once we arrive to our heavenly home, we will sin NO MORE!
THANK YOU GOD FOR PROVIDING US THE WAY TO ESCAPE OUR SINFULNESS!
Here we go: the NOT-TO-DO LIST.
Please prepare yourself. It is the list where we easily avoid some things, while we notice other items that are most challenging & a constant struggle to avoid.
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are:
(Galatians 5: 19-21 NASB)
sexual immorality,
impurity,
indecent behavior,
idolatry
witchcraft,
hostilities,
strife,
jealously,
outbursts of anger
selfish ambition,
dissensions,
factions,
envy,
drunkenness,
carousing,
and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
We could dwell there, in that ugly list of sins humanity commits, in those things God forewarns us to avoid—OR—we can look instead at the list God provides (the fruit we can focus upon in our lives that we can produce once we know Jesus as our Savior and Lord). These things, “The Fruit of the Spirit” are the life-producing fruit that belong to Jesus, that we are to allow God to produce within our lives—ONLY POSSIBLE AS WE WALK CLOSE BESIDE JESUS AS WE GO.
So, Here we go: the TO-DO LIST.
Please prepare yourself. On this list, there are some easy-to-do things, while we also find certain other items we may find as a constant struggle, but we also know that all things are possible through God’s help.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is
(Galatians 5: 22-24 NASB)
Love,
Joy,
Peace,
Patience,
Kindness,
Goodness,
Faithfulness,
Gentleness,
Self-control;
Against such things there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit as well.”
May we dwell here—on the Fruit of the Spirit—a most-lovely list. If we walk through each day with our focus upon God, then God will produce this “fruitfulness” within our lives. Let us remember how “living by the Spirit” is—ONLY POSSIBLE AS WE WALK CLOSE BESIDE JESUS AS WE GO.
Thus, as we walk through this life we have been given, we were provided a birth-year, and then as we live, we walk toward the year of our death that God gave us when He created us, placed us in our mother’s womb, and numbered our days. The Bible tells us so! What we DO or DO NOT DO in the middle is up to us—individually. We live within the dash. For me, my headstone looks something like this: 1966—?. We live within the dash allowing God to produce the “Fruit of the Spirit” within us, as God prepares us for what comes next—to those who have ACCEPTED, BELIEVED, & CONFESSED their sins to RECEIVE GOD’S FREE OFFER OF SALVATION.
THANK YOU GOD FOR PROVIDING US THE WAY TO ESCAPE OUR SINFULNESS!
THANK YOU GOD FOR HELPING US, FOR GUIDING US, FOR LEADING US—TO WALK WITH YOUR ONLY SON JESUS, AS WE WALK BY THE SPIRIT THROUGH THIS LIFE YOU HAVE GIVEN US TO LIVE!
YES, THANK—YOU—GOD!
YES, WE PRAISE—YOU GOD—THIS DAY!
MAY WE AVOID THE LIST WE FIND MOST-DIFFICULT TO AVOID, THE LIST WE MAY OFTEN FALL INTO WHEN WE PLACE OUR EYES ELSEWHERE & TAKE OUR EYES OFF JESUS, OUR SAVIOR AND LORD!
&
MAY WE CHOOSE THE EASY LIST TODAY—ONLY MADE EASY—BECAUSE OF WE ARE “LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD!”
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
(Galatians 5: 16-18 NASB)
For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want.
But if you are led by the [Holy] Spirit, you are not under the Law [because it is Jesus who commands your heart instead—ONLY POSSIBLE Through His Holy Spirit].”