A woman spoke about spending the summer in another country with a Muslim family. She was told and knew not to speak about her faith for her own safety. When she left to come back to the United States, a gathering of people who had spent time with her were asked by her host to each tell something they had observed about her. One person said she was very patient, another that she was kind. Another person said she seemed to have so much joy! One noticed her gentle ways.
As she reflected on what they were saying, she realized they were describing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the love of God (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a) being evidenced in her life. Even though she didn’t say a word about her faith, they saw evidence of the Christ living in her. The life of the person in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells shows for Christ.
I thought about what she said, being identified through observations of her life as a Galatians 5 Christian. Galatians 5 offers two lists of attributes. If someone calls us a “Galatians 5 Christian,” that could be good news or bad news depending on the list they are referring to: evidence of the fruit of God’s Spirit in our lives, verses 22-23, or the works of the flesh with evidence that we are just like the world, verses 19-21). Those who are in the flesh are sometimes referred to as carnal (worldly) Christians.
If we were to examine our own lives, this is how we know we are living in the flesh: Galatians 5:19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, which,” the apostle Paul said, “just as I also told you in times past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21, NKJV). Paul called those in the church who had jealousy and quarreling among them “still worldly—mere infants in Christ,” and said they were “acting like mere humans” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3, NIV). For the world, the works of the flesh are a way of life. For the carnal Christian, this is a call to grow up.
There is more to life than all that. What about “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”? Galatians 5:22-23 refer to these attributes as “the fruit of the Spirit,” what God’s Spirit produces in us as we yield our lives to Him. Don’t we long for that? Isn’t that what the world is really looking for?
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