Have you
had your Joy Juice today? Choose to
begin this day with an outrageous and contagious JOYful spirit!
Genuine joy
comes from a relationship with Christ.
Galatians 5 teaches about the “fruit of the Spirit”. Many times as we read that list, we are
determined to cultivate each of those traits in our own lives: love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self
control. But….we can’t do this in our
own strength!
Let’s not
misunderstand what Paul was teaching about the “fruit of the Spirit”. He wasn’t merely giving us a list of traits
to pursue and cultivate, but he was offering wisdom about what happens as we
give our lives totally to Christ and allow Him to mature us in our Christian
walk. Lydia Brownback writes that “as we crucify all that belongs to our sinful
nature, we are characterized more by Christ than by the passion and desires
that governed us before we knew him. As
this process takes place, the fruit of the Spirit is manifested in us. The Holy Spirit doesn’t give us more love or
more faithfulness or more joy. He gives
us more CHRIST, and as he does, joy and all the rest are produced within us as
the fruit of that union.”
So let’s get ourselves out of
the way and give Christ the freedom to reign in our lives. “The
more of us He has, the more joyful we will be…True joy—fruit of the Spirit
joy—comes as we pray to know Christ, and to be made more and more like
Him! That’s what it means to be an
“OUTRAGEOUS and CONTAGIOUS” Christian!
May
we allow God to have complete control so that we may overflow with the
contagious fruit of JOY!
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