Welcome to in Bolden, where through Bible scripture and commentary, we seek a bold fate, and in doing so we share the amazing love and message of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hello, I'm Chris Shatter. I'm an ordinary Christian seeking a deeper relationship with our extraordinary God. Won't you join me?
Hi friends, are you looking for a life full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and that ever-elusive self-control? Please join me over the next few weeks as we take a look at the Bibles verse in Galatians 5, 22 to 23, so we can experience the Christian life in full bloom. During the last three years with my Bible study girls, or BSGs as we like to call ourselves, I noticed that we all struggle with the same thing, control. Or on the flip side, lack of trust.
The results of that need to control typically lead to a lack of peace. We humans like to manage situations and people without first consulting with the man upstairs. The inevitable results can create frustration, hurt feelings, anger, and so much more. Instead, we turn to the desires of the flesh, listed just above the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5.
They include sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, rich-grap, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy. C.S. Lewis in his funny book The Screwtape Letters says, We must picture hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives with the deadly, serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment. You may look around your own Bible study groups, church friends, or even just the, quote, good people you know and think, nah, we never do any of that horrible stuff.
You might recall, however, at the beginning of the study on love, that Jesus considers gossiping or defaming someone murder. Ooh. We take that newly signed peace treaty with God and consider it a license to do with our flesh desires. Maybe thinking he won't notice.
We turn from the peace table and we walk out the door and get angry at the first person who doesn't do what we think they should. We fantasize of a spouse who would love us so much better and we drink away our anxieties and hold onto our bank accounts for fear of the poorhouse. We speak of karma when hurt by others, become jealous of our non-Christian neighbors with a fancy new car or just turn away from others who need a bit of kindness. Friend, God has implanted in each and every one of us the knowledge of his existence.
Somehow we all know what his desires are for our behavior and for our hearts. James 1, 21 admonishes us, therefore get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you. We know through the Holy Spirit what is right and wrong in God's view, when we actively or even passively work against this, you know what the inevitable result is? Lack of peacefulness.
That niggling in your heart and mind is God's way of reminding us of the path towards peace. And yet we so often ignore it. We've been rejecting the Prince of Peace and his path since he walked on this earth. Take a look at Luke 13, 44-46.
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. And when the Jews saw the crowds, the Pharisees were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly.
We had to speak the word of God to you first, since you rejected and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life. We now turn to the Gentiles. I mean, how incredibly sad is this point in scripture? The Pharisees and Sadducees were spoon fed by Jesus when he was alive.
He was the truth. The glory of the heavens were open to them. The bountiful, beautiful life was placed on a platter before them and they rejected it out of jealousy. Out of fleshly desires.
Do we want to be listed among them? I pray your answer is no. I heard a podcast recently by John Ortberg on taking a hold of the beautiful life God wants for us. He spoke of not just cutting out actions and thoughts from our lives, but more importantly, replacing them with a positive action and thought.
The Bible speaks of cleaning house, but not leaving it empty for the thief to come and take up residence. Therefore, if we want not to just enjoy the glorious peace with God, but God's gift of peacefulness, we need to replace our desires of the flesh with his goodness. With the blossoms of joy and love, with trust that our God does in fact know what he's doing, he is greater than us in every aspect and will provide. Through prayer, obedience, and knowledge of his word, we can, with the Holy Spirit's guidance, rest in his peace.
Ask him today to shine a light on the areas that are creating deadly weeds in your heart. The great gardener will create a beautiful peacefulness in you that you never could have imagined. Have a wonderful day. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Embolden Podcast.
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