By David Stephens (reposted from Belief Changers)
"Some Christian teaching you run into asks a lot from your performance. If you do a certain number of things, follow a certain list of spiritual requirements, you’ll receive blessings and stave off curses. These things are good; those are bad; do the good and avoid the bad. But that’s just the tree of the knowledge of good and evil talking. From this tree hangs all the fruit that feeds the source that desires to control your life through sin. The residue of a life controlled by something other than God—in other words, your flesh—cares not if it eats from the good side of this tree or the evil. Eating from the evil side leads a person into unrighteous sin, while eating from the good side leads to self-righteous sin. But neither ends up in Christ’s righteousness.
The deeds of the flesh are evident. They are plainly recognizable. The deeds manifest as sin in your life. So to remove the sin, you must deal with the source—the flesh. Fortunately, as a Christian, the flesh no longer has sovereign power over your life. You have living inside of you a life that has dealt the death blow to the flesh. You no longer have to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to stay alive. You have the power within to choose otherwise. Interestingly enough, everything you want in life—love, joy, peace, patience, etc.—comes not by your act, but rather Christ acting through you. Whereas the flesh responds in a deed—an action—the Spirit bears fruit. The flesh requires you to “do,” but the Spirit simply asks that you respond.
Fruit is nothing more than the life flowing from the vine into the branch, manifesting itself in a way for others to enjoy the sweetness. The fruit of the spirit growing in your life simply proves the connection you have with Christ. But it’s the connection, and not the fruit, that is most important to you. The fruit in your life is for others to enjoy, but it’s maintaining the connection with Christ that ultimately brings personal fulfillment. Fruit is born in a season, but the connection between the branch and the vine—Christ and you—has no season.
The sins of unrighteousness and self-righteousness trace their origin back to the flesh. Spiritual fruit, however, traces back to Christ. Right now, in this moment, you can choose your source. Will you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and feed the flesh, or will it be the tree of life—Christ—who takes away the sin of the world? All that you could ever want, He wants to give. Choose Christ and never stop eating."
**I thought this was too good not to archive and share !!! Hope everyone enjoys this post.**
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