My Corner Online

Fruit of the Spirit is Love

I am going to do a series of Bible Bits based on Galations 5:22-23 and a writing on those verses by Max Lucado. You can do an internet search for "The Choice" by Max Lucado and find it in many places on the internet.

The Choice
Max Lucado

But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. Galatians 5:22-23/New Living Translation

It’s quiet. It's early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is still asleep. The day is coming.

In a few moments the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day. The calm of solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race. The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met.

For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day's demands. It is now that I must make a choice. Because of Calvary, I'm free to choose. And so I choose.

I choose love . . .
No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

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I just love how he makes the the fruits of the spirit a choice. A great guy named Daniel sent me this poem a few weeks ago when I was struggling with making a choice not to let someone know that she was rubbing me the wrong way. Her behavior kept on all day and I was utilizing everything I had not to speak my mind. I vented to Daniel and he e-mailed me this wonderful poem. I thought it was perfect to separate out into a series for the Bible Bits.

No occassion justifies hatred, writes Lucado. Yes, I was hating this person the entire day. It was rubbing at me and eating me up inside the entire day. However, it did not justify my hate. My bitterness towards her was not justified. I had a choice to choose love rather than hatred and bitterness.

Today I will love God and what God loves, writes Lucado. I love this as it is so simply put. I have had lots of discussions over the years with other people and it is a wonderful thing for Christians to remind each other of. God loves everyone! Yes! Even those people that we have difficulting loving, He loves! If I could only learn to look at them as God looks at them. If only I could give myself an attitude adjustment! I CAN make a choice to love all people.