The weather forecast is showing us images of a “bomb cyclone” sitting just offshore in the Pacific, with the potential to bring heavy rains, high wind, and possible power outages this weekend. Have you ever been in the middle of a power outage and, without thinking, absentmindedly gone to the refrigerator and opened the door, only to be momentarily taken aback by the dark interior?!
No one ever notices the light in their fridge. It’s always there. It’s always on. We take the light in our fridge for granted.
Until the power goes out. Then the light goes out.
Over the last 9 weeks we have been studying the Fruit of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5:22-23.
Many times, we read through the list of the Fruit of the Spirit and we feel that in order to please God, and in order to be a good Christian we need to do all these things.
- We need to try really hard to love.
- We need to try really hard to have joy.
- We need to try really hard to have peace.
- We need to try really hard to have patience.
- We need to try really hard to be kind.
- We aren’t quite sure what goodness is … so we don’t know how to try on that one.
- We make an effort to be faithful.
- Gentleness? What exactly does that look like?? Is being gentle the same thing as being weak??
- Ah … self-control … we can make a good effort to try really hard on that one.
But what we have learned over the course of our 9-week study is that it is not up to us to do any of these things. This is not a list of things for us to accomplish in order to please God.
These qualities are the very character traits of God Himself! These qualities are the essence of who God is.
There is no way we could ever achieve these character traits by our own strength, or our own efforts. These character traits exist solely within God Himself, therefore only God has the power to produce these character traits in our life.
This is the job of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised: “But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses …” – Acts 1:8
Again, in John 7:38-39, Jesus said: “’Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive.”
If we are followers of Jesus Christ, Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit as a gift. The Holy Spirit fills our life with the very presence of God Himself! As a result of God’s presence in our life, the very character of God ( the Fruit of the Spirit ) will not only fill our life but will flow through our life to others.
- It is not us trying really hard to love. But rather it is the very LOVE of God Himself that fills our life, and then flows out from our life to others.
- It is not us trying really hard to have joy, or peace, or patience. But rather it is the very JOY of God Himself that fills our life. It is the very PEACE of God Himself that covers, protects, and calms our hearts. It is the very PATIENCE of God Himself which flows through us to others.
Just as the light in the fridge shows immediately if the power is on , so also the Fruit of the Spirit shows clearly whether or not the POWER of the Holy Spirit is present in our life.
No POWER … no LIGHT.
