Amen, anger is not one of the fruit of the Spirit nor is it love.
Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.
5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,
6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails;
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Our Actions Prove Our Heart
There will be people who will tell you that we ought to be more concerned about the spirit of the Law than the Law itself.
The Law gives the rules as to the conduct of a godly person. It is the schoolmaster that leads a non-believer to Christ. Every human being who is not born-again is condemned by the Law because there is no way they can keep it. The Law shows us our sinfulness, even if someone thinks they have followed it they have not.
Christ said;
Matthew 5:27-28 "27 You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. "
God's standard was higher than the mere committing of the act, it is based on what our heart thinks even if we never commit an act.
No one can act separately from their thought life. It is the thoughts that determine the acts. Without the thought, the act does not occur, therefore if the act occurs then we know the heart came first.
I have had young Christian women tell me I didn't know their hearts when I chastised them for parading on the beach in string bikinis. I told them that modesty was commanded in the Bible by Christ and that violation of God's commands was rebellion against Him. Now that they know it is wrong to parade oneself immodestly they are responsible to repent and comply with God's Word.
Instead of being ashamed that they had been nearly naked on the beach while with men they were not married to, they became hostile enlisting their "youth leader" to also come against me for being "legalistic."
I attempted to explain that it is not legalism to rebuke someone for sin, the problem is that these young women were not being instructed in the ways of God from the Bible, so they felt empowered to spiritually and emotionally bludgeon anyone who would correct them for their sinful behavior.
I did know the heart of someone who dresses immodestly around young men on the beach, their heart was leaking out of them in their actions. If they didn't care about men looking at them lustfully they would not dress that way in front of men.
Even worse the tirade of angst that emerged from them when they were corrected tells me they didn't care what God thought and even became worse, a sort of in-your-face revolt against God and anyone else who would expose their indecency.
After this, I realized that I was probably dealing with pretenders who were not open to teaching and correction in holiness. If they had been open to truth and did love Jesus Christ they would have felt ashamed when confronted rather than to rage collectively.
James 2:17-19 "…17 So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."
Those who truly are seeking holiness and do love Christ with all their heart, soul and mind would never rage against a correction, they would welcome it and make changes to their behavior.
Just Saying!!!!
Friday, January 27, 2023
Kind People are Genuine All the Time
Kind people treat others with respect because of who the kind person is on the inside, they don't pick and choose who to be kind to because it is in their nature to be so.
Those who treat one person disrespectfully and someone else with respect do not love anyone unconditionally. They only love those who enhance themselves in some way.
Those who play favorites are those who love only themselves and are looking for validation they believe measure up to their ideas.
Narcissists often embellish in their own minds ideas they wish to believe about someone to either maintain a sort of "god-like" person or in the case of the devalued person someone who does not deserve kindness.
Those who have a loving nature don't devalue anyone. They are not by nature arrogant or rude, it isn't in them.
The kind loving person is described in the passage below. The very nature of the kind people all the time to everyone are those who do not walk in superiority to others and they love the truth, even if it exposes something about themselves.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8a Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Competition with Others is Ungodly
A person cannot love others when they are in competition with anyone over anything.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8a Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Those who love others concern themselves with whats best for the other person far more than what they want for themselves.
Thursday, January 26, 2023
A Lie Told First is the One Believed Most
There is much false news on the internet today, on the part of liberals as well as conservatives. Sadly many Christians are falling into the trap of sensationalism desiring to know the ugly details of news reports they cannot vet nor have any way of knowing is true.
This false news has divided the church and broken relationships unrepeatable because of the pride that dwells in those who believe this news.
When the lies are exposed those who believed the lie will not listen to the truth and will remove from their lives those who exposed the false narratives.
When the truth comes to present itself those who have been deeply invested in the lie will defend it with everything they've got even when it has been proven to be false.
In these last days, we are watching lies flying like a plague of locusts blackening the sky and devouring all truth until there is barely any left.
It was once said that if someone listens to something for a long time there is a groove like on a record in their mind that is created, the needle of the brain cannot move out of that groove, leaving what was placed there to become more and more solidified, deeper and deeper into lies.
God was very clear that we were to place truth in our minds and reject false when we have exposed it. Sadly most people in the church today have minds full of untruth becoming more hardened and stubborn than they ever were before they heard the lies.
The only way to remedy this problem of lies in the brain is to cleanse ourselves with the Word of God and resolve ourselves to refuse to listen to the internet hype. We must continually be asking God to give us discernment to be able to tell the difference truth from lies.
Galatians 6:7-8
"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."
We are living in the last days of deception, this deception is so clever it sounds plausible with all its false talking points convincing people of something opposite to what is truth.
Romans 12:2
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Galatians 5:16-26 ESV / 250 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ...
Those who walk in the Spirit will not be entertained by sensationalism, they will enjoy only truth. If something cannot be proven let it go, do not hear it or repeat it.
Colossians 3:9
"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices."
And finally;
1 John 4:1
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."
There are many false prophets, newscasters, talk show hosts and on and on, if we stay in the Word of God we will not be decided by them.
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