The Word for This Week Is: “Thoughts”.
The Thought for This Week Is: Memorizing God’s Word is good for the soul.
Memorizing and ruminating on the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is good for the soul.
When we select passages of scripture to memorize, we are communicating to God that we are taking personally those thoughts He is attempting to communicate to us. We are accepting God’s thoughts into our own consciousness. God’s own thoughts can then serve as a basis for decision-making. We no longer guess, we KNOW. So internalizing God’s thoughts in agreement with God can be both bolstering and transforming.
Considerations in my mind about The Fruits of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5 include:
- They can be pictured as rungs of a ladder, with Love at the top (“…the greatest of these is love.” 1 Cor 13), and all the others as steps toward the top;
- Or as rungs of a ladder with Love as the first step and the others as steps toward perfection (“You are to be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Mt 5:48);
- Or with Love as the foundation of the house you build, and all the others as rooms in that house that need renovating: Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
This is my most recent consideration. And what a messy house, too!
I have been studying each of these fruits individually, one each month. Words I thought I understood… but in Isaiah 55:9, God says,
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
For example, consider the Fruit of Joy. Common sense says that Joy at least would involve smiling. But did you realize that the scriptures never ever describe Jesus or any of His disciples as smiling or laughing?
Another example, Jesus says of Peace: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (Jn 14:27), and “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Mt 10:34). How can these two both be true?
While such passages may appear to be conflicting, still, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace…” (I Cor 14:33). Yet even Peter admits of Paul’s writings that there are “…some things hard to understand.” (2 Pet 3:16). Difficulty in understanding is God’s invitation into His thinking. Accept God’s invitation. Memorize God’s thoughts. Agree with them and ruminate on them. Internalizing God’s thoughts is a key to renovating those rooms and developing the true Fruits of the Spirit.
By Jerrold Ludwig