When the World Puts the Squeeze On….

We have all heard the old adage, “When the world hands you lemons, make lemonade!” This seems to be a strong statement of how we are to react when things don’t seem to go our way; however, I have a question that comes from a different vantage point that I would like for us to consider.

“What comes out of you when the world puts the squeeze on?” is a question that begs for an answer with a biblical bent. Now, we all know that if you squeeze fresh oranges, you get orange juice….with those little bits of pulp. If you squeeze lemons, you do indeed get the first ingredient of lemonade….LEMON JUICE. Grapes…grape juice! Apples….apple juice! Pomegranates….well, you get my drift!

But, what about when the world squeezes you and me….what kind of “juice” comes out? As Christians, we are to bear the “Fruits” of the Spirit and according to the passage in Galatians 5:22-23 that reads, “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

So when the pressures of life seem to be bearing down on you and the squeeze is on…. what “juice” comes out of you? Do you rejoice with a fellow employee that gets the promotion you wanted or do you belittle their worth with unkind words that reflect your attitude of “sour grapes”? Do you show kindness and patience when a rude driver cuts you off in traffic or do you fill the air with words that aren’t fit for use at church?

Whatever we do …wherever we go…. whatever we say…we should reflect the love and compassion of our Savior so that when the world applies pressure to our often tenuous situation …what is squeezed out of our mouth is characterized by His love, His grace and His mercy.

But how can we be sure that what comes out of us in times of intense pressure will be the fruit of the Spirit…. the simple answer is this…. we must abide in Him! Jesus told his disciples and us, on the night before his crucifixion, that we could do NOTHING without Him…that all of our hopes to accomplish anything for Him would meet failure …unless WE ABIDE IN HIM.

So no matter how we try to survive the real and on-going pressures of this world, we will fail… and what comes out of us WILL NOT be pleasing to our Heavenly Father, unless we learn to abide in the person of Jesus Christ.

If you’re not sure how to pull this off, yet you desperately want to have the fruits of the Spirit flowing from you when the world applies its devastating pressure; follow along over the next few days as we examine (from the Scriptures) how to abide in Jesus.

Abiding in Him…Enjoying the pressure,

WPQ

Thought for the Day:

Father, it is through your Spirit

We are filled with your love and power.

Please make us more like Jesus

Each day and every hour.