I love the Fruit of Spirit. There are always so many cute kids songs, lessons and printables for that passage of scripture.  They are great attributes to teach our children: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). They are also characteristics that we should see evident in our own lives. But recently, I noticed Galatians 5:25-26: 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another..  

We have a challenging cultural issue currently surrounding us. It’s not in our physical environment, rather, it’s all over our social media environment. Our culture used to be just “keeping up with the joneses” next door, in our neighborhoods, but now we’re “keeping up with the Kardashians” and it’s one big hot mess!

Social media can be an amazing tool or a giant train wreck. We have a disease of comparing ourselves to others and making lists and lists of our inadequacies. Then we take those hurts, and they fester and grow and then we spew out hate and venom and jealousy all over Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Let me tell you right now, that is not of God.

At the start of this passage in Galatians Paul makes its clear: “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”

Please don’t think that this is all isolated to social media, know this same biting and devouring attitude can happen in the streets of our neighborhoods and among our groups of friends. That is why it is crucial that we must WALK by the spirit and not by the way of the world. When you walk by the spirit, you are making a conscious effort to be obedient to God. And guess what? That will make you go outside your comfort zone. It will require you to serve someone. It will require you to make difficult choices. It will require you to step out in faith.

God never promised the path to be easy, but you won’t be alone. He already paved the way. But as fellow Christians we need to walk by the Spirit together and by doing that, the blessings will far outweigh the challenges. Let’s change the comparison game to an encouragement game. Choose to walk by the Spirit.

Thanks for letting me share,