Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

Something I heard on the radio recently made me stop and think about this.  I was wondering about the manifestation of this fruit in the lives of Christians, and what it means if this fruit is missing.  I believe that if a person is 'Born Again', then there will be some sort of manifestation of that in their lives.  I am not saying that they will suddenly become the great Christian who can do no wrong, what I am saying, is that, in some way they will be different.

The difference may just be a nagging when they are doing wrong- at the point of Salvation, the Holy Spirit begins to dwell within you, so you have an additional conscience poking you in the heart when you know you are doing wrong.  Maybe it's a sudden desire to make things right with other people, or maybe the activities you enjoy just loose a little of their gloss.  Whatever it is, there will be something.

As a person grows in their relationship with God, there ought to be an obvious change in their lives.  This is shown to us in Galatians 5, when we read what the Fruit of the Spirit is.  I wonder how many of us (myself included) are showing some, or any, of these fruit?  A Christian should have an underlying joy in their lives- even in times of sorrow and hardship.  A Christian should be gentle (I don't mean soft, there is a difference between being a coward, and being gentle,) humble, and slow to anger.

After reading Galatians 5, I started to wonder about the world of Christianity in today's day and age.  I was wondering if we exhibit these Fruit of the Spirit, or is their no difference between us and the world.  Do our Facebook posts honour God, or when our children read them in years to come, are they going to be ashamed or hurt by it?  I have, in the past, been guilty of some harsh words, but I know, when it comes down to it, our actions will typically be a representation of our walk with God.

I hope this will encourage you to think about what your actions are saying concerning your walk with God, and how the Fruit of the Spirit is reflected in your life.

Jim

Gashed Up- The Final Chapter

I have promised to end this saga soon, and this is it.  The final post has now arrived, so all you dotting grandparents of Christian may finally rest easy.  So, to pick up where I left off...

You should realize, that when I say, "I leaped out of bed" I am talking about a not very comfortable, little green arm chair thingy, that fold out to a stretcher bed about one and a half feet wide.  I tell you, if you think Christian was the one suffering, you have another thought coming- he was being waited on hand and  foot!

Charli arrived right after breakfast (not that we got breakfast, what with the pending operation, and all) with all the siblings to say "hi" to Christian, and pandemonium broke out in the room.  Thankfully we were still the sole occupants.  Just before the bedlam arrived, the surgical doctors all traipsed through to look at and oooh, and aaah, and poke a little at Christians nose.  We were told that a surgery time was not yet known, but, "we will get back to you."

The Nurse came in and gave me a hospital gown- you know, those things that don't close up at the back!  Poor 'ole Christain.  Right after bath time we learned that 10:00 was the most important time of that day.  Charli left the kiddies with Tracy (Perkins), and we sat and waited.  I had to step out briefly, and missed the procession down to the operating theater, but soon found Charl's waiting there.

Two hours.  He was gone two whole hours before we heard the screaming from down the hall, through the "swipe card access" doors.  It didn't take long for the nurse to come and get me to pick him up.  He was screaming "Muuummmama, Muuummmama" but it appears that Daddy would do.

Within an hour of coming out of Recovery, our little bruiser was playing football in the ward, acting like nothing was wrong.  He did finally get to eat though!  Yay!  Everything was great, we were just waiting for the release, then we were going home.

Surprise!  "Mr. and Mrs. Hartley, we think it is best if Christian spends another night here so we can have him under observation."  I guess that a two year old having his first General anesthetic is not exactly a 'do it and get out' sort of job.  But life goes on.

I tried to convince Charls that I would stay the second night, but she wouldn't hear of it.  No way.  So I vacated the little half bed, and went home for a sleep on our nice big bed (with no nurses waking me up constantly), and left Charli to the pleasure of a 'great nights sleep,'

Well, the story pretty much is finished.  His recovery has been great, if it weren't for the be red line down one side of his nose, you would never know that anything had happened to him.  Our Christian is a great little trooper!

Thanks for stopping by, I trust you were enlightened about little Christian and his nose duel.  Feel free to stop by now and then,  you don't have to not come just because Christian is now on the mend.

Jim