DEVOTION
FOR FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2007
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of
the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do
not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit,
you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred,
contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the
like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time
past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom
of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against
such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the
flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us
also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one
another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:16-26 (NKJV)
As I have done in the past I have chosen to do a series of Devotions by
going verse by verse through a Book of the Bible. This time I have
chosen the Letter
of St. Paul to the Galatians. The first Devotion, for
Chapter 1,
verses 6 - 10, was written earlier and can be found by going to the
Devotion Archives.
Each following devotion
will remain on this page for approximately 6 days before it will be
transferred to the Archives.
It is my prayer
that these devotions will assist you in your Bible Study and in your
growth in Faith and in the Love of Jesus. Here then is the
sixteenth in this series of Devotions.
Do you remember these words from a song by Harold Arlen and Johnny
Mercer that were made popular by Bing Crosby? – "You’ve got to
accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.”
The words for this song were written for entertainment, but can become a
lyrical reminder of how to deal with these verses. When people start to
read the list of the works of the flesh that St. Paul presents, it is so
easy to throw hands up in despair and say, "I can’t do it.” Then when
they read the fruits or works of the Spirit, these seem to be so bland,
uninteresting and some of the people have no idea what they mean. For
example, who wants to be long suffering?
Because of this people often accentuate the negative and ignore or
eliminate the positive.
As you meditate on these verses, first of all, eliminate the negative.
After you have read the list of the works of the flesh, set them aside.
Don’t dwell on them. Then read the gifts, fruits, works of the Spirit
and accentuate them by keeping them in your mind. Now turn to prayer.
Yes, ask God for forgiveness for the sins of the flesh that you have
committed, but then move on. Don’t keep telling God how sorry you are,
show it by asking Him to lead you to living the works of the Spirit. It
is when we can accentuate these fruits of the Spirit that our lives can
be changed.
A friend and I were talking about eating apples from the trees in our
yards. I said that I always looked to see if there was one with a bad
spot or a bruise and I would eat that one first. He said I was wrong, I
should toss the bad one away and eat the good ones. He was right. I
never did seem to run out of apples with bad spots and seldom was able
to enjoy a whole good one.
Accentuate the positive and eat the good apples, seek the guidance of
the Holy Spirit to lead you to enjoy living in the fruits of the Spirit.
Eliminate the negative because you will no longer need to eat the bad
apples.
WE PRAY: Heavenly Father, Help us to discover how much joy there is in
the fruits of the Spirit. Help us, please help us, to find the
overwhelming joy that can be ours when we live as you would have us
live. AMEN
A SUGGESTION FOR LIVING THE DEVOTION
Select one of the fruits of the Spirit and think about how you can use
it in your life. For example, Kindness. In what ways could you have been
a little kinder today?