16 So I tell you: Live by following the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful selves want.17 Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other, so you cannot do just what you please.18 But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not under the law.

 19 The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: being sexually unfaithful, not being pure, taking part in sexual sins,20 worshiping gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people,21 feeling envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not inherit God’s kingdom.22 But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong.24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do.25 We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.26 We must not be proud or make trouble with each other or be jealous of each other.

After reading this maybe a thousand times in my life, I finally realized it was talking to me and about me. I had to look in the mirror. Am I really living the way I should? I was a bit shocked when the reflection was not what I expected. For example: I have an almost teenage daughter. I get to the point where I am frustrated with her rebellious attitude towards me and her mom and I often let my anger come out with a loud GO TO YOUR ROOM!!! Looking at the message above, where do I fall? The sinful self reflects anger. Now I am not saying that Christians are not allowed to be angry. What I am saying is that if I use the scripture above to handle the situation, things will be much better. Instead of lashing out to my daughter when I got angry, I should have shown patience and love followed by calm discipline. A simple; Amanda, if you are going to keep this up; you’re going to your room would have been the correct way according to the scripture above. Hold on, I know what you are thinking… Yes, she more than likely would have blew me off and ignored me BUT who’s fault is it that it got this way? Should I expect her to listen to me on the first instruction when her whole life she has learned that she can push me a little further and further until I get angry and discipline her? I don’t think so. I am not going to expect a magic POOF everything is fine now but I will do my best to reflect a fruit of the spirit in everyday life and watch God do his thing in hearts of me and the people I care about.

These precious verses above apply to every aspect of our lives, even… no especially at work. The next time you feel a little tug on the spirit, look in the mirror using the scripture above and reflect on what God has to say about how we are to act.

In Christ,

Scott

I must say I really like sitting down in my recliner kicking back with a tall glass of Milo’s sweet tea and letting the remote become one with my hand. We have such a nice relationship; me and my remote…oops that is another story.

I have always watched racing on TV but I got a wild hair one day and decided to go to Talladega and watch it live. I called the boys up and we took off a day in advance to camp in the parking lot. Well if any of you know NASCAR then you know what happens when the cars aren’t going round and round. The beer flowed, the inhibitions disappeared and well you get the point.

Maybe it’s not racing but a football game or maybe a Saturday night cruise. Who knows, maybe sitting in your house now looking at YouTube? Life will present several encounters with a nice thing that at least in my case usually turns into something else.

In an ideal world, we are to be a lamp and that glow is so bright because of who is in us that the something else will bow down in respect. But… you and I both know how difficult this struggle of our desires can be. I hope to be that bright some day but until then I discovered something about myself in the bible. I can do a lot better with my weakness as a man if I don’t get in the situation to start with. And if I have already got in the scrape all I have to do is give it up or replace it.

Jesus tells us: If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Matthew 5:29

Do you think this is meant to be taken literally? If so – whew, I heard Jesus was one radical dude but that is intense! No, it just means you have got to stop before you start.

Viewing videos on YouTube is no sin but if you end up looking at all the bad stuff because of the other videos on the side then maybe you don’t need to visit YouTube at all. MySpace is no sin but if you get curious and follow the trail from the visitors on the page you will almost always end up somewhere you shouldn’t be. Drinking a glass of wine is not a big deal but if ends up in an empty bottle maybe that one glass is not the best idea.

Now what a minute, I know what you may be thinking. I am not asking you to just give up everything you enjoy in your life. You can replace instead of reject. Instead of YouTube try GodTube, instead of MySpace how about HisHolySpace! You see what I mean. You don’t have to give up everything just replace that thing that causes you to stumble with something that will help you to stand firm!

I still like to watch racing but maybe calling the boys up is not such a good idea after all. I think I will stay home with the family this time.