The Word of God tells us:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

I’m sure there are many excellent reasons God choose these particular qualities to highlight and all of these make a great start when describing a person of character who draws the respect of others. There are other characteristics many would list and possibly higher on their priority list, such as honesty; loyalty; dependable—the list could be inexhaustible and all of them are great. Those above were the ones God choose and perhaps because they are harder and require the assistance of the Holy Spirit’s power to learn and readily practice on a consistent basis.

In Deuteronomy, we are also given this advice:

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.””
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭30‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Life is full of choices! On a quick and certainly not thorough search, articles suggested the average person makes anywhere from 227.6,1500, 2500, and up to 35,000 choices a day respectively. Just looking at those numbers makes me weary!

If I were you, I’d probably be wondering where this could be possibly going and why. What the connection is…

That last several years have been very challenging for most people. Sickness, loss, financial crisis, added stresses in so many areas of life. Our lives and what we are exposed to have changed often in unwanted and dramatic ways we were not prepared for and for many, hope deferred has become hope lost! Some of us are becoming socially detached because of circumstances we have or are living through. Some of us have been more observers than participators; others seemed to fall into the deep end and feel as though they are still treading water; but barely!

It’s easy to notice the tendency for those who have suffered disappointment, hurt, and loss to have a tendency to be looking for the next shoe to drop. Jesus spoke of these things to the people of His day and it still applies to us in our day,

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation(troubles), but take courage; I have overcome the world.””
‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭33‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Just a few chapters before He says:

“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
‭‭John‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Maybe in this next section will begin to pull together and begin to make sense if you’ve continued this far…

Could it really be as simple as Deuteronomy implies? Could all things fall into one of two categories? Something I’ve been pondering and wondering for a long while now. Can it really be that everything either falls under the category of either life or death??

Life Death

blessing Curse

Love Hate

Joy Bitterness

Peace Chaos

Patience Impatience

Kindness Meanness

Goodness Abuse, vileness

Faithfulness Unfaithful

Gentleness Harsh, severe, malice

Self-control Undisciplined, wild

Loyalty Betrayal

Freedom Captivity

Free-will Tyrany

Is it possible that anything less than pure, sincere, untainted love begins the shift toward death/dying and life is synonymous with pure love and love synonymous life and it’s fullness? Can you ever experience real life without unconditional love and can you attain or give this love without knowing it’s source; the Creator of both life and unconditional love?

Three questions I’ve heard people struggle with all my life:

If there is a God and if He is good, perfect, just;

1. Why do people suffer?

2. Why does evil exist?

3. Why provide a tree in the garden that Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from?

We strive to understand and reason these things out to the best of our ability and understanding and when our human reasoning cannot find a satisfactory answer; we doubt and begin looking for more evidence. Often we find more doubt. Conversely, if we can but exercise just a small measure of faith and really take notice at even the little positive outcomes; our faith will begin to flourish and in time doubt will diminish. We get to choose which muscle we exercise or we can choose an easy path or one of least resistance. Either way, it is our choice and responsibility for our response. We can not always make a difference in or control what happens to us, but we can to control our responses and make good decisions.

This leads to the third question I’ve heard asked above- I’ll start by saying No one likes a tyrant! Tyrant-A person who uses power or authority in a cruel, unjust, or harmful way.

God is described as good, fair, just, loving, among many other positive character traits. Because He is good, He gave us, humanity, all the propensity for those traits as well and the free will to choose. Had He demanded our conformance instead of letting us choose; by definition, He would be a tyrant rather than a good and loving God but instead He gives us choices…free-will. Choices have consequences; some good, some less ideal with less than ideal outcomes. Some outcomes aren’t as good as others, some are bad and others are downright evil. There are many times totally innocent bystanders are harmed because of the lack of good choices of others causing senseless harm and even tragic outcomes through no fault of their own. Perhaps these are the hardest to understand and accept. He doesn’t choose these for us but typically we either choose them, or they the result from us or someone else neglecting to choose, delaying, ignoring or avoiding making a choice. Then we look for someone to blame and many turn that blame unfairly to God. This is often because we haven’t taken into consideration that everyone is apt to make less than ideal choices which result in less than ideal outcomes and often effect other people unwittingly.

Just some meandering musings of someone navigating life with all it’s roads whether straight, hilly, twisting and turning, or sharp up hill curves and narrow roads and steep dangerous drops…and trying to choose well and at times falling short. May we all endeavor to choose life!

Romans 8

Grace and peace to you along the way!