In the Spirit

We cannot always avoid the things that get us in trouble.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. - Galatians 5:19-23

We all know people who do things we would never see ourselves doing and we think ill of them for doing them.

In today's reading, we are warned not to do those things, and not to envy those who do them, for that could lead us into temptation and we will find ourselves doing what we know we shouldn't do.

But God gives us an antidote to these temptations in the fruits of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.  We can focus on these fruits to avoid the worldly distractions that plague us all.

Many of the things that lead us into trouble can have a lasting effect.

When we are angry with someone, we may not speak to them for a while, or we may think about them and get even angrier.  The relationship suffers and so do we.

The fruits of the spirit lead us to a right relationship with God and each other.  We feel good about them and about ourselves when we do these things.

But that feeling may not last as long as we would like.  So, there is work in staying in the spirit.

But if we really think about it, that work is worth doing.  It leads us not into temptation.

More to come...