“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law.”
Driving can bring out the worst in all of us. It is here where we play out our internal passions and display them while piloting a vehicle among all of the rest of the people doing the same thing. Are we aggressive, or are we passive? Do we take chances, or do we play it safe? Truthfully, we see all of the above behind the wheel. I can remember when I was teaching my daughters how to drive. I did the parent-taught plan because it was cheaper, and I could teach them the rules of the road and something else, the ability to not let your attitude affect your driving.
In Galatians, we read about the fruit of the Spirit. We made our daughters memorize this verse to aid in their mental development, so to speak. As adults, we should have mastered this, but sadly, a lot of us are nowhere near that. Instead, we use our intelligence to justify our lack of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. We play out our day in emotion-filled rattling to others, and we are convinced that showing this emotion is justified.
Sometimes, outbursts of emotion are justified. Paul tells us in Ephesians to not sin in our anger (Ephesians 4:26). I am talking about a lifestyle that is filled with all kinds of emotional baggage that seems to become our identity. Today, rather than get caught up in all kinds of actions and emotions that the world says are OK, ask yourself: Am I displaying the fruit of the Spirit in this situation, or am I letting myself get caught in acts of the flesh, as Paul writes about in verses 19-21 of chapter 5?
In order for a tree or plant to produce fruit, it must be planted in good soil, watered regularly, and placed in the environment that it thrives in. We are called to walk by the Spirit (verse 16), so we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. It matters where you plant your mind, what you are feeding it, and where you seem to spend most of your time. The fruit of the Spirit is just that, it is fruit that develops and ripens when all the conditions are met. If you are wondering why something in your life might be out of whack or look like brown spots on the leaves of a plant, you might be gratifying the flesh and its desires. Keep yourself planted in God’s Word! Stay in tune with godly friends, desire to learn how to walk in the Spirit, and soon enough you might be producing the fruit Paul talks about.
Prayer: Father, help us not gratify the flesh but walk by faith and not by sight. Help us to focus on the Holy Spirit and what He is saying to us rather than pay attention to the flesh that so easily trips us up. I pray that we would constantly renew our minds by the washing of the Word of God so we will not be subject to the misleading of our flesh. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let It Go 
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