Confessions of A Peace Lover...

You're back - I'm glad! Sometimes I worry that the words that I write will make people say "I'm not going to read her stuff anymore!" In fact I had one dear friend tell me that what I'd written made her SO angry - she thought I'd written it about her. I hadn't. The words I write are lessons God is teaching ME! If He is teaching you the same lesson then we have more in common than either of us realized! Hey friend - you wanna walk this path to good health with me?

Last week we looked at John chapter 5, the story about the guy that was stuck on his mat, crippled by a disease/illness/dilemma that left him paralyzed; recognizing where the answer could be found but not able to get himself there.

Jesus gave him this answer: "GET UP, pick up your mat and walk".

So how does that apply to us today? Well, to me it says we need to be willing to be part of the solution. It's not enough to recognize the problem, it's not enough to know where the answer lies. We must GET UP and do our part in pursuing health - physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

So what keeps us from getting up? What keeps us from being healthy? What lies behind the word "Yes, but" in our response to the question Jesus asks: "Do you want to be healthy?"

Fear? "Yes, but I'm afraid?"

Shame? "Yes, but if I ask for help what will people think?"

Pride? Denial? Feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to start? I shudder to think that part of the problem could be laziness, or ignorance. Those are not words I really want used to describe anything that I'm a part of.

What about ambivalence, anger, bitterness, or jealousy? The old "it's not fair" card gets pulled out frequently when we see something that we think should be ours but for whatever reason it's not, and it often becomes an excuse for not doing what it takes to be where we want to be.

I'm pretty sure none of those are listed in Galatians 5, the scripture that defines the fruits of the spirit.

But I have a feeling if we look at those fruits the lack of them will hold some answers:

Love - the lack is ambivalence, just don't care, hatred, hostility

Joy - the lack is bitterness, depression, sadness, sorrow, grumpiness

Peace - the lack is war, a battle, anger, despair, discord, discontentment, anxiety

Patience - the lack is, well, impatience - if we can't have it now then why bother?

Kindness - unkindness, rudeness, meanness, bitterness probably plays a part here again

Goodness - when good is absent what you have left is evil, ungodliness, impurity

Faithfulness - unfaithfulness, cheating, disloyalty, deceit, pretense, laziness

Gentleness - without it there is harshness, no tolerance of those who need or offer help, roughness

Self-control - oh my, well without self-control there's all kinds of junk, much of it beginning with the word "over" over-eating, over-spending, over-extending (as in filling a day with more than can possibly be accomplished), undisciplined behavior

Honestly, I think in each of those opposites we can see reasons that keep us from being healthy.

Perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned from this scripture is that we have to have FAITH in the One Who asks us the question and tells us to walk!

If we don't trust that God is for us, if we don't believe that Jesus came to heal our deepest need, if we don't have confidence that the Holy Spirit is living IN us, giving us strength to get thru the pain and darkness, we will be stuck in our own strength, bearing our own bitter fruit instead of bearing the fruit of the spirit that is a by-product of the power of Christ living in us.

The fruit of the spirit grows in us as we grow in Christ. As we WALK by faith with Him. Walking by faith is an exercise in and of itself - and lets face it, faith is much like a muscle, it needs to be used in order to stay in shape!

But first we still have to answer the question "Do you want to be well?"

If the answer is yes then today is the day we need to seek the wise counsel that will help us, once and for all, pick up our "mat", (or get off our couch) and WALK!

Until next time.

Beth