Friday after Cantate 5/7/99

Galatians 5: 23--26
But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace.  He makes us patient, kindly,
good, faithful, gentle, and gives us self-control.  There's no law
against such things.  But if we belong to Christ Jesus, we have crucified
the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let
us also follow the Spirit.  Let us not get conceited, challenge one
another and get jealous of one another.
--Beck

In the name of the Spirit who sanctifies us, amen.

Look carefully at the description of what the Spirit produces.  Does it
sound like you?  Or are you not so joyful, not so loving, not so full of
peace, etc?  Do you measure up to the Spirit Who lives in you?  Or are
you resisting Him every step of the way?

If we call ourselves Christians, then we should be living in a way that
reflects that we have the Holy Spirit.  Anger that flares up, lust,  lack
of self control, jealousy--even of the spiritual gifts that others have,
all of this is to be absent from our lives.  How do you measure up?  If
you really take a close look, you undoubtedly fall short.  Of course if
you are conceited you might not see this...

Such is the sorry state of the Christian in this life.  He is always
struggling to be perfect, and always falling short.  Yet, we have the
sanctifying Spirit who shows us again and again our salvation in Jesus
Christ.  The Holy Spirit shows us that where we are conceited, Christ
Jesus was humble, where we are jealous, Jesus was not, where we lack self
control, Jesus was self controlled.  The Holy Spirit then shows us that
because we are in Christ through faith, Jesus' holy life is our holy
life.

Out of the Joy of being forgiven comes the ability to strive to be all
the things that God would have us be.  Little by little, day by day, the
Holy Spirit increases our faith, and sanctifies our life so that we live
more and more by the Spirit.  In this way the Holy Spirit acts like an
athletic trainer, urging us to perfection.  He holds the ideal in front
of us, and helps us toward that goal.

The struggle remains throughout this life between what we are and what we
should be, but because we are forgiven through faith in Jesus, we
continue to grow stronger in faith and holy life.  God grant that each
passing day brings you closer to God-pleasing perfection of life.  Amen.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, when we consider the gifts of the Holy Spirit and
then look at our own lives, we see that we are far from being perfect. 
Forgive us for our imperfections, and increase our faith by the power of
the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel, so that we may lead a life
that is more pleasing to you.  We ask this in our Savior Jesus' name,
amen.