Chiefs and Raiders

This has nothing to do with any post the on fruit of the Spirit. I'm just thrilled wiht the fantastic year the Oakland Raiders are having. What are they now? 2 and 13? Yea, I think that's it. Even if the Chiefs don't make it to the play-offs, and they have little or no chance of making it, the Raiders are at the bottom of the heap. This is a great year for Pro Football!! May every year be this good.

Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness

God make me good, but not yet. St. Augustine

Isn't that the cry of too many of us?

Satan is out to get us to believe other than the truth of Scripture, that God is absolutely good and absolutely faithful. Every crisis, struggle, sickness, and trial are all to get us to believe that God is not true to His word. It is to get us to believe that God is neither, and we are on our own in the crisis, or that God would even work against us. But, every crisis, struggle, sickness and trial is an opportunity for God to show again that He is good and faithful, and those attributes are best seen in those type of circumstances. But what does the Bible teach? Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.

Here is one of the best quotes I've ever read on being good. It is from another pastor's blog:

This is the secret of the Kingdom: The only way to be truly good—good like God, good—Kingdom-transformed good—is not to focus on being good, it is to focus on belonging to God. In every part of your being giving more and more over to the one who will make you more and more like him. Tod Bolsinger

Fruit of the Spirit: Patience

Psalm 27:13-14 Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

The theme of patience is difficult. It's like waiting for a blogger to get around to adding to the theme he started but hasn't written on in about two months.

Part of patience is waiting for God to act. What I am learning is that the fruit of the Spirit is most often perfected in the midst of conflict. The fruit is mentioned in book of Galatians (Galatians 5), written to a church in conflict. Waiting for God to act, even after a move of obedience is patience building.