Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.
The Bible says to love The Lord your God. Jesus also
tells us in The Bible to love one another. Here we are told by the Apostle Paul
that the fruit of The Spirit is love along with a set of qualities that reinforce
love. There is no law that can stand against real love for God and others; for
in love everything is made right.
It's easy to blame others (and thus justify ourselves)
for our disobedience. But in the following quote, Thomas Merton identifies the
key reason why we fail to experience the freedom and joy Christ offers
believers:
It is not that someone else is preventing you from living
happily; you yourself do not know what you want. Rather than admit this [and
ask for God's help], you pretend that someone else is keeping you from
exercising your liberty. Who is this? It is you yourself. [Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
(New Directions, 2007), p. 110]
The Holy Spirit is there to motivate us to love, find joy
in our lives that comes with peace and longsuffering. We find that we can
supply kindness to others out of the goodness of our heart. Our faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control allow us to hold onto these values and use them for
not only the good of God, but for the good of ourselves. Is someone holding you
back from living a happy life? If so, you probably need to look at yourself.
For maybe you are not allowing The Holy Spirit to work in your life.
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