What kind of person will you be?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The Great Adventure”

Our Bible verse for today: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “What kind of person will you be?”

This morning, I want to take us back to the quote I cited yesterday from Congressman Dan Crenshaw in his book, “Fortitude”: “We have to figure out who we want to be; not just what we want to do, but who we want to be. When we decide who we want to be we are identifying the character traits that we want to have define us.”

Yes, we have to decide who we want to be (or what we want to be like), and then we have to do the things necessary to become like that. How we see ourselves and how we want to become, and then what we decide to do about that, goes a long way towards determining the kind of person we will be. And it does have to be intentional. It requires a decision and action on our parts.

In Galatians 5:19-23 the Apostle Paul created a stark contrast designed to illustrate this very point. In verses 19-21 he wrote, “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar.” Then in verses 22-23 he listed the fruit of the Spirit. Two different lifestyles, two different outcomes, two different kinds of people.

Have you ever had the pleasure of knowing someone whose life overflowed with the fruit of the Spirit and those virtues just seem to radiate out of them? How do you suppose he or she became that way? It was by means of an intentional decision to develop a life of discipleship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are character traits the Holy Spirit develops in us and then brings out of us because the person continuously places him or herself in a position before God, every day, whereby the Spirit can mold and shape them, growing them in spiritual maturity and making them more like Jesus.

An essential part of the adventure of living the Christian life is growing in spiritual maturity and progressively becoming more and more like Jesus. So, what kind of person do you want to be? And then, what are you doing to help bring that about?

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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