It's All Because of....Who?

As I was folding laundry this morning, I kept going over the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5 - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - and I had an interesting thought. It's amazing how often that happens. :p

What I thought was, hey: it mentions self-control in there. Isn't that something?

I think it shows, again, the clear Biblical principle of God's sovereign power and our own responsibility. We are supposed to be self-controlled, to wage war against the flesh...but we can't do it without the Spirit working in us.

Christian life is a struggle. We fight, daily, against sin. It's amazing and relieving to know that the Spirit is there to help us, that Christ has accomplished what He set out to do, and that the Father will complete the work He has begun in us.

Because of Jesus, we have the ability to put on the Armor of God. We can fight back against sin and against the "desires of the flesh" (Galatians 5:17).

And the fruits of the Spirit can grow in us.