Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. – Joshua 1:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 5, 2012): Joshua 1

Okay, this is fair warning. I am going to take a few minutes and pick on smokers – just because I can. A couple of weeks ago I was talking with a smoker I know about quitting smoker. Actually someone else had wondered if we should offer a stop smoking program in the church. I mean, that would be a great idea and all the smokers will get really excited about it. Unfortunately, the person who came up with the idea did not smoke, so I thought I would try out the hypothesis by going to talk to someone in the smoking area just outside the doors of the church. And the idea was not met with the same enthusiasm that I had experienced when it was pitched to me. The conversation went something like this. “Garry, it is not that we don’t want to quit smoking. You would have to be crazy to look at a cigarette package and not realize the damage that we are doing to our bodies. But, deep down we really do not want to do what it will take to quit.” And I understood the comment. If a smoker comes up to me and says “I want to quit smoking” I am all over that. But I do not know many smokers that will quit because a non-smoker thinks they should. (And, by the way, the worst non-smokers are ex-smokers.)

A few days later I was in another meeting. This time the subject matter was different, but the result was the same. I have been convinced that the church exists to make us all a little more like Christ. To that end, I am also convinced that if the church is doing its job, then we will exhibit more and more of what Paul calls “the Fruit of the Spirit” – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The response was kind of expected. There are some days, Garry, when I do not feel like being any of that – I just do not want to work that hard. And again, I understand that. But it also highlights part of the problem.

In the church, it has somehow become assumed that the Fruit of the Spirit is something that we put on – we even use that kind of language. It is like deciding which shirt we want to put on in the morning (and today I am just not in a yellow mood.) But I do not believe that that is Paul’s intention. Rather than being something that we put on, the Fruit of the Spirit is supposed to be what we are. The Fruit of the Spirit is supposed to be what is left exposed when we get naked (and you always thought it was the Fruit of the Loom.)

The only way we get to that point is if we meditate on God’s Word and never let it depart from us. The only way that we will ever get to where we need to go is if we find the words of God forever on our lips. If that does not happen, then it will always be work we do not have the energy to complete.

     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 2