“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8 NLT
In Galatians 5 the Apostle Paul presents us with a big list of “fruits” or “results” of living in the flesh. There are 17 or 18 things in this list. All of them are focused on “self.” None of them are focused on anything outside of me me me.
In fact that is the opposite of what God wants us to do. God wants us to live in the Spirit. He wants us to live in His Spirit. He wants us to have the characteristics of His Son Jesus and for the Spirit of His Son to come alive and be shown through our lives. If all I think is me me me, God cannot show Himself as God through our lives.
Paul goes on to talk about the “fruits” or “result” of living in the Spirit. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
How do we do this? Paul gives us the answer in Philippians Chapter 4. “Fix your thoughts.” The Greek used here is the word “logizomai.” We get the English word “logic” or “logical” from this word. It means that something makes sense. It is right because it makes sense. It just does not make sense to allow ourselves to live in the flesh and have the things that Paul list control our lives and be the proof of our decision. If we use this thought, Paul could be saying that it makes sense to fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, etc.
Why? Because Jesus is God. Jesus and God share the result of living in the Spirit. Jesus experienced life in the flesh, but thought with the mind of God. If Jesus were focused only on Himself, he would not have been able to go to the cross. But no, Jesus “fixed His thoughts” on what God wanted Him to do.
Everything that is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable is found in Jesus Christ. Because it is true in Jesus Christ, it is true in God. Jesus and God are most excellent and worthy of praise.
So, if we let the Holy Spirit control what we do, the only result will be to have the same characteristics as Jesus Christ. The results of living in the Spirit are those things which are most pleasing to God because they are the result of faith in Jesus Christ.
We are commanded, not asked, to show the result of accepting Jesus as Savior. Jesus says, “Abide in me.” Walk in the Spirit.” “Bear fruit.” These are not suggestions.
We are to bear good fruit. This means we are to show the goodness of accepting Jesus as Savior. It just makes sense. It is logical. We can bear good fruit or we can bear bad fruit; good results or bad results, good sense or bad sense. The choice is ours. The results are what we show other people.
It goes one step further. We are commanded to “bear fruit.” We are commanded to “bear good fruit.” But then we are commanded to “bear MUCH fruit.” Our character and what we do need to overflow with the abundant love, joy, peace, and best attitude of Jesus Christ.
Why? It just makes sense for us to do it. We are created in the image of God. We are conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. It just makes sense.
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7 years ago
