Fill up the Cornucopia

“A Cornucopia is a sign of abundance, blessing… in order for this image to have its full affect it needs to be overflowing… In order for our lives to have their full affects they need to be overflowing in The Fruit of the Spirit… Galatians 5:22-23

The right understanding of this scripture is not an “Ala-carte” approach, where we pick and choose what we’re comfortable with…

I believe the best understanding of this scripture it to think of it like a house… love is the foundation, self-control is the capstone… I don’t believe we can have consistency in any of the other fruit without self-control…

 

Love – Because He first loved us… This love is a selfless godly love that wants the best for others (without selfish motives) and this is the root of all the other fruit…  

Joy – A strong inner sense of gladness not based on circumstances, but on the love, grace, blessings, promises and nearness of God… gladness for what God has done for us, and what He’ll do for us in His mercy, That He has chosen to have a relationship with us… Job, when he found out he lost it all his first response was to worship God!

Peace – Inner calm and contentment, the product of trusting in God and His control…

Patience (Longsuffering) – Endurance without becoming annoyed, the ability to be hurt without losing our temper, maintaining hope in tough situations… He’s been so patient with us, how can we not afford the same grace for others…

Kindness – True and active consideration of others… Goodness – To do right, a passion for truth and hatred of evil…  

Faithfulness – Unwaveringly loyal, following through, being a person of your word…

Gentleness – Acting mercifully, especially for those that are ignorant and hard to be gracious towards… 1 Peter 3:4

 

Self-control – Mastering one’s own desires, emotions, and passions… Self-Control is “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions.” Here, yes, it’s dealing with sensual (or sexual) appetites, but the principle applies to every part of our lives…

If we are in Christ, our lives are now to be controlled by the Spirit of God, and not our physical desires… Proverbs 25:28

 

Sexually – We are not animals…

If all we are, are chance being, our only responsibility is to ourselves and our fellow beings… If our only responsibility is to self and our fellow beings, then we in essence are god, can make god into who we want him to be… we set our own standards…

If we’re nothing more than one part of our earth, yes we have emotions and feelings but when we die nothing really happens and our only legacy is what we leave on this earth, then why not follow every sexual desire…

This is not God’s view of sex, or our creation…This world gives us some cheap alternatives to His plan…

 

Health… eating, drinking, sleeping… 1 Corinthians 6:19

God is calling our body to serve His purposes, take care of it… Sleep/ Exorcise… note God is not calling us to obsession…

 

What about drinking?

In Romans it says to ‘obey the laws of the land’, the law of the land is 21 years old, so if you’re not 21 drinking should be out of the question anyway…

Does drinking help you make wise choices?

  • Proverbs 31:4
  • Proverbs 20:1
  • Ephesians 5:18
  • Romans 14:21
  • (There are more scriptures on this…)

If you desire to be a leader for God, and you should… drinking is something you should avoid… So is drinking a little alcohol a sin? I would say no, but there’s not a lot of wisdom in it.

Getting drunk is a sin and we live is a culture where people drink to get drunk… If you have a family history of drug and alcohol abuse chances are if you start drinking you will become an abuser…

If you drink you could be hindering other who struggle with drug abuse… And when you drink you lose a level of self-control, and when you lose self-control you open yourself up to sin in a big way.

So I would ask you, why do you need to drink, why do you need a beer, is God not enough for you? Is He unable to meet your needs?

Ephesians 5:18… Live in the Spirit, “Be filled with the Spirit” and please don’t drink. But I know this isn’t easy, and sometimes we may feel very alone… it can be very hard, but it’s worth it…

 

This list could go on and on but this is my challenge for you… in an age that lacks all self-control, stand firm in your faith and live a life of Self-Control… and in doing so, fill up the cornucopia…

Romans 6:12… The Fruit of the Spirit should mark our lives, we have freedom in Christ, so live in it…

Few things in scripture paint a clearer picture of the heart of God, and the call of holiness within our lives like The Fruit of the Spirit…

God’s calling us to live self-controlled lives… The Spirit of God, when love has had its way with us, will work out self-control within our lives…

In order for us to do this we have to lay hold of the foundation the Spirit laid… Love, and as His love more saturates our lives… the deeper the love the more control we allow the Spirit within our lives… the more a self-controlled life becomes our reality…”

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