Our calling is not to accommodate or to reciprocate bad behavior but rather to welcome the inner workmanship of the Holy Spirit that we might bear the fruit of His planting when dealing with provocative personalities. Nothing draws out of a believer that which is within, or presents greater growth opportunities, as when dealing with difficult circumstances and difficult people.
We don’t choose our mission field, it calls out to us. There are many heavenly opportunities in the thorny places and interactions that we experience each day.
The fruit of the Spirit being produced in the lives of the redeemed makes the bitter sweet and the difficult a place for grace’s artistry. A taste of the heavenly fruit sweetens everything.
Without the Fruit of the Spirit manifest in our interactions, our interactions with others would be one continuous train wreck. Christ in us is essential among:
- those who make insatiable demands of others, establishing unattainable standards while offering no grace to those who do not and cannot measure up.
- those who pride themselves in being the abrasive presence that assumes the duty of wearing the shine off of others.
- those who must be in control and when that is not possible, see it as priority one to make sure that those who are, be kept humble. These are not team contributors but rather prideful saboteurs.
- those who must be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. This would be identified as a narcissist.
- those who perceive themselves to be superior to all others intellectually, spiritually and by any other conceivable standards of measurement. Great personal pleasure is experienced in making others feel small. This disposition stands tallest upon the backs of others.
- those who are masters of manipulation, whose chief aims are to exploit and to use others for personal gratification or gain.
- those who have no desire to be liberated from the bondage of perceived victimization, as it takes one to center stage and it becomes the daily fare for that which takes delight in the crippling excuses and accusations which feed the god of self-pity. (May we never be dismissive of those who are painfully victimized in what is often a very hurtful world. But it is ultimately the will of God that every person experience healing and restoration, and discover his or her victorious identity in God’s love in Christ.)
God positions us in a world where we are immersed in drama and pain, laughter and sorrow, among provocative personalities (of which we may at times be counted.) We are called and anointed by God to encourage one another to walk in the health that His Truth and Grace offer. We are equipped by the Holy Spirit to help people come to faith and to discover who they are in Christ when they get there.
If not for the grace of God at work within us, bringing forth personal transformation and spiritual fruit, we all have the capacity to be that difficult personality.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
We don’t choose our mission field, it calls out to us. There are many heavenly opportunities in the thorny places and interactions that we experience each day.
The fruit of the Spirit being produced in the lives of the redeemed makes the bitter sweet and the difficult a place for grace’s artistry. A taste of the heavenly fruit sweetens everything.
Without the Fruit of the Spirit manifest in our interactions, our interactions with others would be one continuous train wreck. Christ in us is essential among:
- those who make insatiable demands of others, establishing unattainable standards while offering no grace to those who do not and cannot measure up.
- those who pride themselves in being the abrasive presence that assumes the duty of wearing the shine off of others.
- those who must be in control and when that is not possible, see it as priority one to make sure that those who are, be kept humble. These are not team contributors but rather prideful saboteurs.
- those who must be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. This would be identified as a narcissist.
- those who perceive themselves to be superior to all others intellectually, spiritually and by any other conceivable standards of measurement. Great personal pleasure is experienced in making others feel small. This disposition stands tallest upon the backs of others.
- those who are masters of manipulation, whose chief aims are to exploit and to use others for personal gratification or gain.
- those who have no desire to be liberated from the bondage of perceived victimization, as it takes one to center stage and it becomes the daily fare for that which takes delight in the crippling excuses and accusations which feed the god of self-pity. (May we never be dismissive of those who are painfully victimized in what is often a very hurtful world. But it is ultimately the will of God that every person experience healing and restoration, and discover his or her victorious identity in God’s love in Christ.)
God positions us in a world where we are immersed in drama and pain, laughter and sorrow, among provocative personalities (of which we may at times be counted.) We are called and anointed by God to encourage one another to walk in the health that His Truth and Grace offer. We are equipped by the Holy Spirit to help people come to faith and to discover who they are in Christ when they get there.
If not for the grace of God at work within us, bringing forth personal transformation and spiritual fruit, we all have the capacity to be that difficult personality.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
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