This is what I shared at our Mother/Daughter Banquet last night:
Theme: What’s in your purse? Looking at the inside instead of the
outside
The stage of life you are in determines a lot about what you
carry in your purse:
A Teen’s purse - comb, lipgloss, mirror, cell phone, bubble gum
A Mom’s purse - diapers, wet wipes, crackers, small toys, hand sanitizer
A Grandma’s purse - hankie/kleenex, candy, reading glasses, lipstick
But for the Christian woman, no matter what stage of life
you’re in, what’s in your heart should remain the same: Let’s look at Galatians
5:16-26 (ESV) to see what should and shouldn't be in our hearts:
16 But I
say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the
flesh. 17 For the
desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are
against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from
doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you
are not under the law.
It’s easy to look great on the outside, but still be a mess
on the inside – and nobody knows. Have you ever been searching for “that thing”
on the bottom of your purse and you have to dig to find it? It requires focus
to find “that thing”. It also takes focus to follow the Spirit and not the
flesh, as v. 16-18 points out to us. How do we stay focused on following the
Spirit? We “dig in” to Bible study, prayer, and Christian fellowship. Those
things will help us stay focused on walking in the Spirit.
19 Now the
works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries,
dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness,
orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Who likes to clean out their purse? All the gum wrappers and
Kleenex that get shoved in the bottom make it hard to find what we’re looking
for. Sometimes cleaning out the purse is needed, even if it’s not very fun. V.
19-21 tell us clearly what not to carry – the works of the flesh. It’s easy to
skip over these because we don’t want to be convicted or our pride keeps us
from seeing we struggle with any of these issues – but our flesh/old self is
constantly at war with the Spirit in us, so we need to check our heart and
repent or “clean out” when and where we fail.
22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such
things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step
with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become
conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Isn’t it fun to get a new purse? The strap’s not
broken and the bottom of the bag is not all sticky or stained. You check out
all the pockets and pick things out of the old purse to put in the new one.
When we repent of our sin and trust in Christ as our Savior, the Bible says we
are a new creation, we get a new heart. And what should we put in this new
heart? V. 22-23 tells us what to carry – the Fruit of the Spirit. You are
probably familiar with this Fruit, but these things don’t come naturally to us,
because of our struggle with the flesh, they require practice and desire – as
v. 24 says when we are in Christ, we have killed fleshly desires. Then, we must
replace them with Spirit desires/fruit. When we are focused on growing the
Fruit of the Spirit in our lives thru Bible study, prayer and fellowship – then
v. 26 will be true of us – we will not be conceited, provoking or envying but we can truly
encourage each other in love, kindness, and gentleness and be the body of
Christ as He desires us to be.
