Triple Threat

We live in a world where faithfulness is challenged on a regular basis. Whether it is in dating, marriage, friendships people are forget the importance of being true to their word or true to their promise. It's become so common place that people don't really encourage people the be faithful. Your personal happiness is WAY more important than being faithful.

The thing is, God is faithful. If we confess our sins to Him, He will be faithful and just to forgive us from all wickedness. (1 John 1:9) What state would we be in if God stopped being faithful? Let us strive to keep our word and be faithful to others as our Father is faithful to us.

Gentleness. Honestly, I have problems with this one. Sometimes, I can be WAY too blunt. There are times when I drive home a point with such precision and accuracy that it causes more harm than good. Allow me this example... imagine for a second that you have a cyst on the bottom of your foot. Imagine every step that you take is causing you pain. It effects your life. The problem is, you've been living with it for years and to some degree you've gotten use to the familiar pain. Now, your doctor see's this and tells you that he can resolve this problem. You're hesitant, but decide to allow him to do the procedure. Gentleness is like skillfully using a scalpel to remove the problem. Now, image the doctor using a grapefruit spoon to dig out the cyst. Not as effective, but it could get the job done, and do more damage than good.

That... is why it's important to be gentle.

15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. 1 Peter 3:15-16 NLT

Self control is another area where society is screaming at the top of its lungs in defiance of Christian values. In our society, they say, if it feels good do it. What does it matter if it doesn't hurt anyone else except for me? We live in a world of excess where the bad girl or the bad boy is celebrated. Whether it's the Jersey Shore, Real Housewives, Basketball wives, pop musicians, excess is the message. Not only excess, but acceptance of their behavior.

27 It’s not good to eat too much honey,
    and it’s not good to seek honors for yourself.
28 A person without self-control
    is like a city with broken-down walls.
Proverbs 25:27-27

 22 An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
    they are ropes that catch and hold him.
23 He will die for lack of self-control;
    he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
Proverbs 5:22-23

Over the past few weeks, I have learned a lot about where I stand spiritually by looking at the fruits of the spirit. It has truly been humbling. There's not much more for me to say, than I really understand that I need to relinquish control to God in quite a few areas in my life.