Friday 1 November 2019

Works of the flesh or fruit of the Spirit

 – Galatians 5.19-25

This passage draw the dramatic difference between a life of the works of the flesh and a life showing the fruit of the Spirit.

Even the English words sound dramatically different.  Fornication, adultery, uncleanness, lewdness, wrath, dissension, etc and etc on the one hand and love, joy, peace, gentleness, and goodness on the other. The contrast is clear, and we need to ask ourselves which list we want to describe our lives? Which list best describes my life?

The first list certainly describes the world doesn’t it? Everything is dirty and ugly and vile. That is all the flesh can produce. That’s why the world acts the way it does. It acts the flesh leads and we should be surprised when broken people live like they are in a broken world.

Then we have the fruit of the Spirit. What the Spirit produces could not be more different than what the world produces. They are things that the flesh simply can’t do. People can love and comfort and find a measure of joy and peace but nothing can do those things like the Holy Spirit. He is the personification of those traits.

The works of the flesh or the fruit of Spirit? The choice is clear.

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