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America's Broken Heart Issue!!!




 Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.



Have you ever thought about fruit? What is a fruit? According to Wikipedia (The source of all information, am I right?...No...)  "Fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate their seeds." (1) To make a fruit requires a flower and flower requires a plant and plants need roots. 


The root of the fruit of the Spirit is Love. God is Love and God gives good gifts. God gives us all of Creation. God gives us Life and God gives us knowledge or Light to everyone. Jesus, God enfleshed in humanity was the plant. Through Jesus humanity was taught how to love the least, the marginalized, and the forgotten within society and sacrificed Himself so all have had their Sin forgiven. The flower of Faith through belief in the miracle of God's love hopefully yields fruit.


But many times it doesn't...why?


Baring fruit requires loving God and humanity. And in the US context right now that is hard to come by. The Church in the US has become as secular as society is. The Church has in many places chosen to wage culture wars of hate against, minorities, LGTBQ, women, migrants, and the poor. The Church claims to love but the fruit is of the secular, hatred, judgement, discrimination, harassment, and supremacy. NONE of these are the fruits of Spirit but of the world. 


Why?


Because we break the first law of the 10 Commandments (AKA as the Ten Words). “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me." (2) When we hate others, conspire to harm others be it through social norms, laws, customs, or just discrimination we are doing it to God's own face because all humanity is made in the image of God. When we stand in God's place and judge we are literally denying God's own word to God's face. God said all of Creation including humans are "good" and this declaration was not conditional. The scroll of Genesis doesn't place constraints on what is Good.


And yet...


Here in America we actively do this every day in words, deeds, laws, politics, culture, and most sadly through the Church.


But there is a way home!!...


God has not abandoned us. We can always come home by apologizing to God for our lack of love, stopping the harm, and loving them. Yes that other person who bares the marks of God may live in a way that you don't agree with. They may do stupid things YOU don't like. But it's not about you, it's about God and God is love. So we should always choose love, even when it repels us, even when it's hard, even when it flies in the face of our proclivities. We must love. When we love and look into the face of humanity we see God. And with loving comes joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We are no longer controlled by our Sin, by the powers and principalities of this world but by love, we bear good fruit that God uses to splash forgiveness and grace all over Creation. 


Here in the US we need to stop hating our neighbors, judging them, harming them, and especially killing them. The role of God is not ours but God's. And when we step into that role we place ourselves as God and that isn't our role. So choose Love, choose to develop good fruit and see the change that happens in your life. 

















1 "Fruit", Accessed May 31, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit

2 "Deuteronomy 5.6-7" Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.

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