Fruit of the Spirit Series: Self-Control- Part 9 of 9

          Self-control is the final gift listed with the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Self-control is very important in the Bible. Look at 1 Peter 5:8:

8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

           The verse before talks about casting you anxiety on God, so you can look at this passage as talking about not allowing Satan to use your unresolved anxieties as weapons to attack you, but there are also other ways of looking at it. When we become angry and we do not control that anger by being self-controlled and alert, we give Satan the tools that he needs to hurt the people in our lives, hurt our testimony as Christians, and do some damage to ourselves. However, Anger is an emotion that is welcomed in the Bible. We know of Jesus flipping tables in the temple because of his anger over the desecration of the temple by the money changers. There are also verses in the Old Testament that speak of God's righteous anger. Look at Nahum 1:2-3:

2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
    the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
    and maintains his wrath against his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power;
    the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
    and clouds are the dust of his feet.

          We know that God is a good and loving God, but that does not mean that he does not get angry or take vengeance. Of course, when it comes to vengeance, we are supposed to give that over solely to God. Look at Romans 12:18-20:

 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

            Even when people blatantly insult us and irritate us, we are to treat them with patience and calm. Look at Proverbs 12:16:

16 A fool shows his annoyance at once,
    but a prudent man overlooks an insult. 

             and Proverbs 15:1:

1 A gentle answer turns away wrath,
    but a harsh word stirs up anger. 

           Being patient does not mean overlooking justice, however. Micah 6:8 says:

8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God. 

            and Psalm 68:5:

5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
    is God in his holy dwelling. 

          Therefore, we need to let the emotion of anger expose evil that is occurring and respond to that emotion with thought, rather than suppressing it. Christianity is not an anti-emotion faith; we apply our faith to our lives with not just our mind, but with our hearts as well. However, the proper use of these requires thought and practice to perfect. For more on this topic, revisit my very first blog entry on this site, "Heart and Mind: 1 Corinthians 14:13-17".
           That's all for the Fruit of the Spirit series. Check back next week and see what comes next!
Peace,
Simeon Snow

Fruit of the Spirit Series: Gentleness- Part 8 of 9

            Gentleness is one of the keys to a great Christian life. Have you ever heard of the saying "You can be right and speak loud and still be wrong"? It is possible to confront someone with truth and still be in the wrong because of the way that truth is expressed. Look at 1 Peter 3:15-16:

15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

         Here, we see that, as Christians, we are responsible for not only choosing to follow Christ within our own hearts, but are also responsible for explaining that internal hope to those around us. We are always to be prepared for a conversation about the Lord of our lives. However, the passage strongly warns that we are not to do this with disrespect, but with gentleness, so that our character won't be called into question. The Christians who use loudspeakers to confront the sinners of this world with ugly comments about their condition are doing an unbiblical disservice to our faith. Our witness is not very effective when it calls attention to our lack of empathy instead of to the real issues of the gospel.
          Gentleness is also very important when dealing with the shortcoming of other Christians. Look at Galatians 6:1:

1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.

           It is our responsibility to show gentleness in even the harshest confrontations. Although we are to confront unrepentant sin and hard hearts with firmness, as shown in 1 Corinthians 5:9-12:

9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

          , we are to consider the emotional needs of people that are repentant and reassure them that they are still loved and accepted by the community, as in 2 Corinthians 2:5-8:

 5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.

       Not only are we to show gentleness to those who are struggling with sin in one way or another, we are also called to be gentle and forgiving with the everyday quirks and irritations that come with our family in Christ, as shown in Colossians 3:12-14:

 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

 Peace,
Simeon Snow

Fruit of the Spirit Series: Faithfulness- Part 7 of 9

                 Why can faithfulness be such a hard virtue to practice? It seems that we can only stay faithful to someone or something whenever we are emotionally attached to it. We know how to be faithful to our friends on a good day, but what about when we don't feel like it and it hurts? When I hear of faithfulness, I think of God's command against divorce in Malachi 2:15-16:

15 Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. 16 “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the Lord Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

          Divorce is an endemic disease among our people. You can't turn around without bumping into someone who has had their life changed by it. I also see it in our relationship with God, as in Psalm 106:11-13 when the Psalmist speaks of Israel after the parting of the Red Sea:

 11 The waters covered their adversaries;
    not one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his promises
    and sang his praise.
13 But they soon forgot what he had done
    and did not wait for his counsel.

          The prescription for faithlessness in the Bible is remembrance. As soon as you start forgetting who the Lord is and what he has done for you, the more you start to slip away from faithfulness. Listen to Psalm 78: 4-8:

4 We will not hide them from their children;
    we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
    his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
    and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
    to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them,
    even the children yet to be born,
    and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God
    and would not forget his deeds
    but would keep his commands.
8 They would not be like their forefathers—
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
    whose spirits were not faithful to him.

         You can also describe this remembrance as the spiritual discipline of Thanksgiving. Considering that the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up very soon, I think this would be a great time for you to practice this very easy discipline: simply write a list of or discuss with others what you're thankful for. Once you are done with this list, spend a few minutes meditating on what you are thankful for and how that shapes your view of God. Reflect on Psalm 77: 9-12:

 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?” Selah
10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
12 I will meditate on all your works
    and consider all your mighty deeds.

          Job, in the midst of his trial, is able to refuse his wife's demand that he throw off his faithfulness to the Lord because he remembers the good God has done for him. In Job 2:10, he responds,

 10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

          In 2 Peter 3:8-9, we are told,

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

         We are told to remember God's eternal character, so that we do not understand a delay in God's action as his lack of desire or ability to take action in our lives.
         What about being faithful to humans, such as to our spouse? The verses we have looked at so far have talked about faithfulness to God because we remember his character. What does that have to do with divorce and other faithlessness issues? Consider this: Since faithfulness is a Fruit of the Spirit, it is developed through a deepening relationship with God. There is a primacy of loving God over loving others. This is the same with faithfulness: faithfulness to God will precipitate faithfulness to others. This happens because, as we stay faithful to God in a growing relationship with him, he will transform our hearts to be faithful hearts. Look at Hosea 14:4:

4 “I will heal their waywardness
    and love them freely,
    for my anger has turned away from them.

          God is able to heal our waywardness and faithlessness if we turn our hearts more and more to him. Of course, we are all human and will find ourselves failing in our faithfulness from time to time. All sin is an act of faithlessness, really. So, I am not trying to set some unattainable standard if you were only "Christian" enough to achieve it. Rather, God is faithful and, by spending time with him, we are able to mimic his character just like a child mimics his parents. Not only do we do this by mimicry, but, like I said earlier, we open ourselves to the work of the Spirit in our lives rather than resisting it. This is done, not just through the discipline of thankfulness, but through all the spiritual disciplines, such as Bible reading or prayer. Finally, all people are different and this post is not meant to prescribe a single solution to all cases of faithlessness. However, my assertion is that we can all become a little more faithful by remembering what God has done in our lives as we spend time with him.
Meditate on Psalm 86:11-13 this week:

11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
    and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
    that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
    I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me;
    you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.

Peace,
Simeon

Fruit of the Spirit Series: Goodness- Part 6 of 9

         For this post, when I speak of Goodness, I mean our desire to pursue God and grow close to him. I would say that Godliness is the fulfillment of this desire and pursuit, but Goodness is the continual drive to get there. It is very hard to draw near to God if you don't want to. If you've kept up with my blog, you would have read me mention Goodness briefly in the post called "A Pattern of Growth: 2 Peter 1:5-7". There, the passage outlines a pattern of growth, beginning with (v.5):

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness...

           The phrase "For this very reason" refers to the previous statement that we can become more godly through God's power in our lives. Thus, in a very real sense, God places in our hearts a desire to obey his laws that was not there when we were unbelievers. Refer to Hosea 14:4:

 4 “I will heal their waywardness
    and love them freely,
    for my anger has turned away from them.

           and Ezekiel 11:19-20:

 19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

          However, just because God places this new desire in our hearts does not mean that the battle is yet over. For we find Paul telling us in Romans 7: 18-20:

 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

         Thus, there is a battle between your new Goodness and your old, sinful nature. There is a constant back and forth process between the two that will continue for the rest of your life. How do you fight the battle? Here is the interesting part: In order to grow my desire to pursue God (Godliness), I need to do things that I don't completely want to do. This is otherwise known as discipline, specifically spiritual discipline. While it is important to choose spiritual disciplines that you find at least somewhat rewarding, the immediate concern is not that you enjoy the discipline. As I just said, that desire grows over time as that little seed of desire for God is fed and nurtured. Support for these statements actually come from the passage leading into the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5: 16-18:

16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

          The way that we oppose our sinful nature is to live in the Spirit, meaning to be actively involved in a daily relationship with God. If we do this, otherwise known as "living in the Spirit", we will feed and grow our desire to do good things. A similar passage comes from a continuation of the passage I quoted earlier about the battle between our two natures with Romans 8:5-8:

5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

         A sublime analogy for this idea of doing actions that don't come easily in order to grow our love comes from marriage. If you've listened to some ideas coming from marriage counseling, you may have heard someone respond to a case of lost love by telling the person to do loving acts and that the emotions of love will follow. Consider Paul's admonition to husbands in Ephesians 5:33:

 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

          Have you considered why Paul had to command husbands to love their wives? Some would say that if the love isn't there, the relationship shouldn't be continuing at all and that the lost lover should find a new soul mate to initiate the "falling in love" process with from scratch. In that case, Paul would be giving horrible advice here. If the "falling in love" theory was right, all discontent couples (otherwise known as ALL couples) would need to break up at the first sign of lost love. However, if we accept Paul's advice for what it is, we see that love is a choice that can build into an emotion over time, just as Paul's admonition for wives to respect their husbands. They might not feel respect, but that does not lessen the need for the woman to meet the man's need for respect from his lover. Similarly, a relationship with God is tough. Just because you have made the commitment of faith to God doesn't mean that you want to spend time with him every time that he asks you. So, in a sense, yes, Goodness is present from the moment you accept Christ and the Holy Spirit invades your heart. However, this seed is like the mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32:

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.

         I think this parable has been neglected by Christians who think that the mustard seed placed in their hearts at salvation will simply grow, even if they don't water it and nurture it. I would like to remark that there is a tension in scripture between our need to grow ourselves and that God will independently bring about his own growth in our lives, even when we aren't working with him. For instance, Philippians 1:6 says:

6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

          and Mark 4: 26-29 says:

 26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

         So, yes, there is reason to hope that growth will happen in our lives, even against our wills (by grace), but there is an equally opposing narrative in the Bible that contains passages like 2 Peter 1:8-9, which follows the process of maturing in one's faith:

8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

          If we don't nurture our relationship with God, we will be ineffective and unproductive in our faith. Also, look to John 15:5:

 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

         In conclusion, take my admonition to grow your Goodness seriously. You will have a much more difficult and fruitless life if you don't take this seriously. However, also know that God loves you and knows how hard it is to pursue Him. Taking off the sinful nature can be just as difficult as sawing off an arm; it's a part of who you are and always will be. However, don't consider God to be a mean schoolmaster who paddles you every time you don't love him. Instead, picture God as a lover who is trying to woo you. In the back and forth between boys and girls, there is the part where they guy initiates and sends nonverbal messages of his interest. However, as most guys could attest to, the relationship develops a lot slower and is much less exciting when the girl doesn't respond to his call. When she looks at his antics with passivity, she cools a flame that was meant to burn bright and consume her heart. It was designed for such emotions and the desire is there. However, it is but a small flame that must be nurtured and fanned into its proper glory. This is where the mustard seed analogy comes into play. It is so, so small to begin with, but if you spend time with it and help it along, it will grow into the biggest tree in your life.
In Christ,
Simeon Snow