Poitives vs. Negatives

17For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21envy, 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.

22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.  ~ Galatians 5:17-26

Some of us are positive people and some of us are negative.  Some dwell on the negatives around them, while others tend to look at the brighter side of life.  Being negative can drag not only ourselves down, but also those around us.  By being positive, we can lift not only our own spirit, but also the spirits of those around us.  The way we approach life can bring about happiness or sadness just by how we tend to look at things. 

God tells us of the negative and positive attributes that are in this world.  If we are led by His Spirit, we stay away from the negative attributes and seek the fruits of the Spirit for a happier, more fulfilling life.  The choice is ours to make.  By living by the fruits of the Spirit, we cannot commit sin, for there is no law saying that we will be punished by God for living out our lives with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  These look so much more appealing when looking at them in this light. 

When we look at just one or two of the “sinful” attributes, we may think that perhaps partaking in a few of the lesser ones once or twice won’t hurt.  It almost makes us feel “dirty” to even consider partaking in these forbidden things when reading them all listed here in this passage, though.  When we see some of what we may feel are “minor” negatives listed with the more severe by our standards, we see them all for what they really are – not worth even considering if we want to live a happy, God-filled life. 

By belonging to Christ, we have given our lives over to Him – giving up our earthly passions and desires.  We no longer want to live by the ways of which God has laws against, but rather, we strive to live as God wishes us to live.  Let us change out any of our “bad fruit” from our lives and refill them with more “fruits of the Spirit.”  By doing this, we will live our lives more contentedly, knowing that we are pleasing God instead of momentarily pleasing ourselves. 

Prayer 

Father in Heaven,

Help us to look to You and Your Spirit to help us live according to the “positives” in life, so that all of our days may be filled with happiness in serving You.  Amen.

~ Wendy Miller