WEdnesday evening's message

Ten ways to check your character week 2. Malcolm in the middle clip on Youtube as the Duel at the Mall Everyone has a guiding power in their life. It’s that innermost voice that guides and directs us in the decisions we make. It appears in many cartoons as an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Well, as Christians we are called to be driven and guided by the Holy Spirit. That is God’s gift to us to help with tough decisions. If God and the Holy Spirit are the guides in our lives then there is fruit that comes from that. Fruit is the product of a tree, the same way spiritual fruit is the product of a life lived for Christ. 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. To be honest just sharing Galatians 5:22-23 is the answer to all of the character tests I gave you in our list of 10 ways to test your character. Love – we know what that is but do we show it? And do we show it in the times that it will mean the most? It’s pretty darn easy to love the people who love you back, but what about the flip side? Joy – not happiness but joy, which is the overflow of our hearts. Happiness is circumstancial I can be happy when things go my way, I cannot be happy when life throws some impossible things at me but I can still find my joy because that will never faulter. Peace – not the absence of conflict but the absence of worry, fear and stress in the middle of conflict. Forebearance – Toleration of an offense, AKA patience Man oh man, tolerating someone who offends you in some way that is quite the test now isn’t it. Kindness – the act of being kind, very rarely is anyone referred to as kind. WE say man he/she is such a great person, so giving or so loving but never kind. Is it because we have forgotten how to be kind or because we don’t even think about kindness at all? Goodness – the outward act of being good and full of good. No not for goodness sake, but Goodness as in full of good. Faithfulness – the quality of being faithful Gentleness – the quality of being gentle, now here is a tough one. I have met a lot of people who never seem to get mad or upset, they are what we refer to as gentle. They can speak for themselves, they can correct wrongs and do it without getting mad or ugly about it. Self control – yikes this one is scary, self control is a control that overtakes all others, it means absolute control over your thoughts, actions and attitudes at all times. 1. What you think when someone takes your parking spot, or your driving lane Christmas time, driving thru a crazy parking lot and hoping to shop for the things you want to get for your loved ones. There is a certain amount of hurry because you have waited until the last minute and the place is packed. You cruise thru and find a good parking spot a row over, you speed down the row make the turn and rush to be met by a little car whipping right into your spot. Or worse, you drive up and turn on your signal to show that you are pulling into that spot and all of a sudden they pull in knowing you were headed in there. What do you think, what do you do, how do you react? How do you want to react? Character is deeper than our actions. It is controlling your thoughts, if you can keep yourself from wanting to set fire to their car you have won the battle for your character. A few years ago I was talking to someone who suffered from road rage, possibly some of the worst road rage you will ever see. She was always angry when people cut her off in any way. I tend to laugh it off, I mean someone cuts you off now you are going to be a whole 3-5 seconds later where ever you are driving. She told me the story of how one morning she was headed to the dentist, got in her car and realized she was running just a few minutes late. SO she drove fast to make up for the time, she was coming up to a red light and as she was slowing down a car cut her off. She didn’t have to hit the brakes she just didn’t like the car pulling in front of her so when the light changed she whipped out of line and drove fast to get around the car and get back in front of her just for spite. Not only that she drove as slow as she could for a while to prove her point. As she reached for the door at the front of the office when she arrived it was locked. She stood there for a minute and a lady opened the door. She said sorry I am running a little late, my daughter threw up in the bed this morning and I had to clean it all up before the sitter got there, my car wouldn’t start and I had to get my neighbor to come over and jump start the car in the freezing cold this morning and then to make matters worse as I was driving to work a car cut me off and drove as slow as they possible could. Yep, sometimes we need to realize that others are in the same hurry we are(and at times not in a hurry at all). 2. How you react to slow internet or phone connection: Patience, patience patience. We live in a world of constant contact. We want so badly to be in constant touch with people even when we aren’t around them. Tara is the world’s worst phone person. I can get a text from her, respond immediately with a phone call and no answer. It’s so frustrating but is the frustrating part that she is so bad in responding or that I am not getting my way. I work in the field of domestic violence and all unhealthy relationships boil down to power and control. One person is overpowering and controlling the other. I hear horror stories of people not getting their way and hurting others violently. Not because they did something wrong, not out of frustration but out of a need for control in that moment. As I type this Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide seem to be positioning themselves to make the college football playoffs and contend for another title. Actually I can say that they have won another title now that I proof read this Tuesday morning the day after they won it. People ask all the time what makes him tick, what makes him so successful and so different. I watch and I see a few things, one work ethic. It seems nothing gets in the way of his work, his preparation and his determination. I also see determination and drive. He is self motivated he doesn’t need anyone telling him he needs to win, he will win because he is driven to. But I also see control. He only loses his cool when things happen that are out of his control. The press, he hates them because they post and print and spread things he cannot control. He had someone ready to write about book about his life and he was going to make millions and millions but he wouldn’t do it because he demanded to have the final say in what went in the book. So no book. Control, he is fine as long as he is in control and I think in many ways we all are. So a lot of this boils down to the fruits of the Spirit which I shared at the beginning and a lot of it boils down to learning to control what you can control and letting go of the things that you cannot.