Lively Responses

Bad situations and annoying or costly events present us with opportunities to suffer.

The suffering really comes from our responses to the situations, though, not the situations themselves. When we respond to a difficulty with one of the “works of the flesh” that Paul described in Galatians 5:13-21, we are stuck holding that response, and we are probably miserable. So is anyone who has to tolerate us.

When we respond to situations with the strengths Paul described in Galatians 5:22&23 that he called the “fruit of the Spirit,” we then possess the peace or patience or joy or whatever else we respond with.

A response includes how we talk to others or even how we talk to ourselves about the difficult event. If we are telling ourselves over and over how badly we were treated or how impossible it will be to fix the A/C or how we told him not to do that, etc, that is a response. It doesn’t have to look like an action or an interaction to be a response.

Something goes wrong, you do something next. Does what you do next remind you of your flesh, or His Spirit? If you don’t pick the right thing first, pick the right thing ASAP. Even if its just a thought.