Today’s
scripture: Galatians 5:22-23
Karen sat in the morning service and just about got up and walked out. Pastor Reed was talking about the fruit of the Spirit, and Karen just couldn’t take it anymore.
She’d known Jesus since childhood, and she’d asked Him to come into her heart when she was in junior high school. She knew all about His love and peace and forgiveness. She knew that she was to be Christ-like in everything she did.
But today, she didn’t feel at all Christ-like.
This morning, she’d had another fight with her husband, Jeff. He’d stopped going to church a while ago, saying he didn’t see the need to go to a place that was full of hypocrites. He said that he still had a relationship with Jesus, and that his faith was just as strong as it had ever been. He didn’t stop her from going or from taking the kids. He just wouldn’t be going himself.
And now, she was hearing about love and joy . . . and peace.
She still loved Jeff—no question about that. But she wasn’t feeling a whole lot of peace. Wasn’t he supposed to be the spiritual head of their home? How could he be that if he wouldn’t even go to church.
Where’s that peace I’m supposed to feel? she silently asked.
Just then, a voice spoke to her heart:
The fruit is available to you, my child. Ask, and I’ll help you.
So she did. And He did.
Do you also struggle with this one “fruit of the Spirit”? You too can have this peace, if only you ask.
Karen sat in the morning service and just about got up and walked out. Pastor Reed was talking about the fruit of the Spirit, and Karen just couldn’t take it anymore.
She’d known Jesus since childhood, and she’d asked Him to come into her heart when she was in junior high school. She knew all about His love and peace and forgiveness. She knew that she was to be Christ-like in everything she did.
But today, she didn’t feel at all Christ-like.
This morning, she’d had another fight with her husband, Jeff. He’d stopped going to church a while ago, saying he didn’t see the need to go to a place that was full of hypocrites. He said that he still had a relationship with Jesus, and that his faith was just as strong as it had ever been. He didn’t stop her from going or from taking the kids. He just wouldn’t be going himself.
And now, she was hearing about love and joy . . . and peace.
She still loved Jeff—no question about that. But she wasn’t feeling a whole lot of peace. Wasn’t he supposed to be the spiritual head of their home? How could he be that if he wouldn’t even go to church.
Where’s that peace I’m supposed to feel? she silently asked.
Just then, a voice spoke to her heart:
The fruit is available to you, my child. Ask, and I’ll help you.
So she did. And He did.
Do you also struggle with this one “fruit of the Spirit”? You too can have this peace, if only you ask.
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