Then there’s PEACE. If you find yourself in a conversation where feathers are getting ruffled, can you help soothe hurt feelings or prevent harsh words from be ing said? LONGSUFFERING. Aaaaaah. Now that’s a good one. You pray for patience and what happens? Your car stalls for the eighth time in the same intersection. Your husband (or wife) comes home in a bad mood and needles the day lights out o f you. Someone at the laundromat beats you to the last available dryer (he knew you were next in line) and you have to wait another 30 minutes to finish your wash. About then your prayer (if it’s anything like mine) goes something like this, “Yes, Lord. I wanted to learn pa tience. But did you have to teach it to me this way?” How abou t GENTLENESS? Webster says it has something to do with good manners, softness (not weakness), being honorable. Nothing is so disarmingly Chris tian as a man who remembers to stand up when a lady enters the room, or a woman who speaks softly with no trace of bitterness in her voice. Then there are GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS (no Mr. Milquetoast this — check Living Letters), a n d TEMPERANCE (self-control), fruit to be pro duced in your life and mine. Impossible? You’re right. Except for the fact that the fruits of the Spirit are produced in us by the Spirit. “ . . . when the Holy Spirit con trols our lives He will produce this kind o f fruit in us. . . . If we are living now by the Holy Spirit’s power, let us follow the Holy Spir it’s leading in every part of our lives” (Gal. 5:22, 25). Who are you? You’re an original, a child of God, you’re important, y o u ’ ve been given a job. The Spirit o f God dwells in you. You are a privileged person indeed. | J b ] Marilyn Heiliger is a graduate of Tal bot Theological Seminary and Assis tant Editor of TEACH Magazine.
your eyes, walk with your legs, make things with your hands, think with your mind. No one else can serve Christ in your place but you. You have a unique person ality, with God-given talents and abilities, which can only be used by you to glorify the One who gave them to you. If you are a Christian, you are also a child of God, chosen by Him to love and serve Him. “Only a few would welcome and receive him,” says the Apostle John. “ But to all who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was believe He would save them.” And you are important — im portant enough to be chosen by God. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit,” said Jesus. “Ye are my friends.” You are a member of G od ’ s household, joint-heir with His Son, and entitled to all the riches the Father has pre pared for His children. You mat ter to God. You’ve also been given a job to do: to “go and bring forth fruit.” Unnnnnh, you say, backing gin gerly away from that ominous word “ fruit.” If by “ fruit” you mean buttonholing people to ac cept Christ, count me out. I’m just not the buttonhole variety. People scare me (and sometimes I think I scare people!). But wait a minute! Bearing fruit is more than buttonholing people for Christ — a whole lot more. Take a look at the “ fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5 and you’ll see what I mean. They’re all listed there. You probably memorized them in the s ix th grade. But what do they mean? Can you LOVE someone even when that person does not show love in return? Or is your love conditional on how the other per son acts or treats you? Can you bring JOY to a strang er just by smiling, or make a troubled friend laugh to release the tension, or compliment a fel low student on a job well done?
Marilyn Heiliger A TELEVISION program some years ago featured the story of a young woman engaged in a fascinating occupation. As signed by a particular company to do research, her job consisted simply in approaching a variety of people in a variety o f occupa tions and asking them one simple question: “Who are you?” In order to make the research valid, the person being questioned was requested to give the first three answers that came immedi ately to his mind. The research company had a great time with the answers to this question. There were great psychological and social implica tions to each answer. If a man’s first answer was “ I’m a man,” this meant he was conscious of his masculinity. I f a woman began with “Oh, I’m just a housewife,” she was not fully aware o f the importance of her role as a wife and mother. If a man answered, “ I’m an executive, a stockholder, and a family man,” he was aware of his position, his financial sta tus, and his marital obligations in that order. What the company did with all this research I don’t remember. But I do remember that it set me wondering just how I would an swer that question. In this crazy, mixed-up, fast-moving world in which I live—Who Am I? And who are you? Well, for one thing, you’re an original (and so am I). You were created in the image of God and there’s nobody else like you in the world. Nobody else can see with
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