Harmony

James 3:^9-10 “Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!”

Our final thought from yesterday’s devotional is really big and worthy of repetition because it is so important that we get what James is saying to us. And it is this; exhibiting the gifts of the Holy Spirit and not manifesting the fruit of the Holy Spirit is a misnomer. You cannot lift your hands in worship to God, then get to the office and steal money with the same hands. That is totally wrong. It is so important that we do not with one mouth bless the Lord, and with another mouth abuse our neighbour, or curse our children, or teardown someone made in God’s image. It ought not to be. Charisma [the gifts of the Holy Spirit] and Character [the fruit of the Holy Spirit] should be in consonance. We should not be like the Corinthian church. The Corinthian church?

If you study the churches referenced in the Bible, the most giving church is the Philippian church, the most spiritual is the Ephesian church, and the most gifted is the Corinthian church manifesting the gift of the Holy Spirit. But Paul was saying to them in 1 Cor. 3:^1-3 “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you, I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?” Even though these people were prophesying, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, and working miracles. Paul says he could not talk to them as spiritual people. Why? They were jealous, quarrelling; Paul says these things should not flow from the same stream. Spirituality and carnality should not flow from the same vessel.

There was confusion and chaos in the Corinthian church because it was a very charismatic church, but their character was almost zero. What we are saying is this, Charisma without Character leads to chaos. When you have the gifts of the Holy Spirit [Charisma] without the fruit of the Holy Spirit [Character], you have a chaotic situation. Therefore, we are going to spend time looking at the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We trust that God is going to teach us and empower us as we look at the fruit of the Spirit. Gal. 5:^22-23 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (emphasis added). When our life is flowing with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, you are above the law. Listed in Galatians 5 are nine attributes of the fruit of the Spirit, but some translations expand it to twelve fruit. But we have looked at nine gifts so we will look at nine attributes of the fruit of the Spirit.

Prayer: Father, I pray that even as You fill me with the Holy Spirit, I will be a person of integrity, having both character and charisma, in Jesus Name. Amen!