Fruit of Spirit, Fruit of Flesh
It seems that when God wants me to pay attention to something he repeats it over and over. Lately, the theme has been Walking by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-17
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
In an effort to live this out instead of keeping it in the arena of academia, I have written the fruit of the flesh and that of the Spirit (found in Galatians 5: 19-22) on a piece of paper that I keep with me:
FRUIT OF THE FLESH
1) sexual immorality 2) impurity 3) extreme sensuality 4) idolatry 5) witchcraft 6) hostility 7) bitter conflicts 8) jealousy 9) outbursts of anger 10) lack of unity 11) dissentions 12) cliquishness 13) envying 14) drunkenness 15) orgies, and things like these.
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
1) LOVE 2) JOY 3) PEACE 4) PATIENCE 5) KINDNESS 6) GOODNESS 7) FAITHFULNESS 8) GENTLENESS 9) SELF-CONTROL
I also noted that the fruit of the flesh is obvious (Gal 5:19), and that there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22b). [I take it to mean no Spiritual law.]
A friend of mine pointed out to me that the fruit of the flesh are actually perversions of the fruit of the Spirit. For example, sexual immorality, impurity, extreme sensuality, jealousy, and orgies are perversions of the Spiritual Fruit of Love.
Satan does a very good job of taking what is good and twisting it. Be very careful. This is why it is important to stay in the Word and do what it says.
