Bible
Study: Galatians 5, 18 to 25 and Luke 11, 42 to 46.
“Now the
works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness,
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions,
factions, envy, 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.” Galatians 5, 19 to 21.
For
persons who are yet to know Christ, these things are considered as normal and
our attitude towards such things reflects whether or not we are actually
converted.
The greatest
mistake we Christians often make is to assume that despite our baptism and
profession of the faith, despite our rejection of Satan and his works and empty
promises, we still feel we can eat our cake and have it. This is why pretence
is such a rampart thing among Christians. We pretend a lot! We are not what the
world thinks we are, what we actually are is hidden from the view of the world.
Pretence is
precisisely what Jesus noticed with the Pharisees who were so concerned about
external things to the detriment of the purity of their hearts. That is why Jesus
called them “unmarked graves, on which people walk over without realizing it.”
Luke 11, 44.
Dear
friends, we are called to grow in the spirit. Let us stop trying to fool
others. Let us start making real efforts to develop new habits to replace bad
ones. They say, we start to die when we stop growing. If we do not make frantic
efforts to live by the spirit, we allow our flesh take control.
These are
the things that should characterize our lives: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE,
KINDNESS, GENEROSITY, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, and SELF-CONTROL. There is no
law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have CRUCIFIED
THE FLESH with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also
be guided by the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, cleanse me from inside out that I may live by the Spirit. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.
Fr. Abu
No comments:
Post a Comment