Spirit Filled Holidays & More

November seems to be the kick-off month for the holidays. Store clerks are eager to greet you and share with you the holiday specials and sales. As we draw nearer to Thanksgiving, people begin to think about all the aspects of life that make them thankful. The weather turns colder, the leaves change into all of my favorite, inviting colors like orange, red, brown, and gold. People seem to change too. They become nicer. Immediately after Thanksgiving, the countdown to Christmas begins. The media pours on the holiday cheer something thick. If you’re not typically known as a pleasant person, there’s something about the holidays that inspires people to be thoughtful. To be kind, cheery, and bright. Maybe all the happiness blossoms because it is just what is expected of us this time year. Even if you don’t feel it in your heart, you fake it. Even if it’s just for the month of November and the holidays, isn’t it okay to just be nice and then go back to our normal impatient, short-tempered, self-centered selves?

Why can’t we just be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control all year long? These are fruits of the Holy Spirit. It would be so convenient if we could bottle up them up and somehow ingest them daily so that we just don’t look the part, but actually live the part not just at the holidays but every day of our lives. When everything in life is operating like a storybook fairytale, it is easier to exemplify these loving, stirring emotions, but every tale has a villain, a traumatic climax. Similar to a tale from a story book, in life there are trials and circumstances that serve as a litmus test, proving if we’re truly walking by the Holy Spirit or by our flesh.

When we allow our circumstances, good or bad, to rule our emotions we’re like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. One day we’re happy, the next we’re sulking and in a state of despair. No, the fruits of the Spirit can’t be bottled up and drank, but they can be read, studied, meditated on, and internalized into our heart and mind. When we feed on God’s truth our flesh, which desires to be ruled by our circumstances, is controlled by the Holy Spirit within us. He’s a living being that resides in every believer. When we feed our Spirit with truth, we are empowered to be loving when a family member spews hate towards us, joyful when we’ve lost everything, peaceful in the midst of chaos, patient when everyone around us is frantic, kind when someone you love doesn’t speak or acknowledge your existence, good when the world does bad, faithful when those you care about let you down, gentle when your boss treats you harshly, and self-controlled when you’re tempted to indulge in an activity that you know is wrong.

For the Christian the truth is we will not always feel like being any of these things. It isn't until we wrestle with the emotions, the issues, and the sin within our heart that we begin to produce fruit that remains. This fruit isn't temporal. It doesn't rot and disintegrate when difficult seasons of life come upon us. This fruit is lasting and creates within us a peace that surpasses all understanding.  Let’s demonstrate to the world that simply faking a smile at the Thanksgiving table or giving a perfect gift to appease the in-laws will never lead to lasting joy. Now that November has arrived and the holidays are soon around the corner, let’s walk in obedience to what God’s Word commands us to do. Let’s be filled with the Holy Spirit in November, the holidays, and every year to come!