“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control.” -Galatians 5: 22-23
In today’s post, Dr. Charles Stanley discusses the third reason why the Lord gave us the ability to feel.
3. So we can reflect the image of God. Dr. Stanley states that the fruits of the Spirit never were meant to be passive virtues that simply make us feel better about ourselves. The Lord gave us these Spirit-born feelings in order to mobilize us into action, to actively “demonstrate His graciousness, mercy, and passion to the world.” Whenever we do so, God is working through us to draw others to Himself.
As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5: 20, we are “ambassadors for Christ” as we do God’s kingdom work. Reflecting God’s character and love enables others to know Him and experience His mercy and grace. Indeed, God works through our emotions to help us understand His purpose for our lives. Dr. Stanley asks what stirs compassion in our hearts, what injustices particularly anger us, who we can’t bear to see suffering. Our answers may reveal our God-given sensitivity for those persons or groups so that we can be a blessing to them.
Today’s question: How would you answer Dr. Stanley’s questions about compassion, injustice, and suffering? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: the new Short Meditation- “Steadfast love and faithfulness”
