Give your acount today and don't wait till God calls you to it in on Judgement Day.

Have you ever read this?

It is from Ephesians chapter 4: 29- 32: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.


I know we all have bad days, but come on, really, is it such a necessity that we always get our way or be right so as to hurt, knock down or trample someone else. This is Satan at his best in trying to appeal to our selfish, sinful nature.
You know what I think the problem is. Yes this is my psychological diagnosis. No, maybe this is my spiritual diagnosis. Anyhow, the way I see it is when we embitter ourselves to anyone who might cross our path we are lacking in the joy department. Let me tell you now in just thinking about this I am so joyful with whom I have indwelling in me and at the same time grieve for Christians who haven't yet gotten it. You know the ones who as my friend says, "Have no intimacy with Jesus".

Remember the day you got married, the sheer happiness you felt before life might have caused some trouble or maybe a lot of troubles depending on your life? Or if you are not married, the day you got to go on your first date, or got to drive a car alone? This feeling of freedom, or love and being loved, or being a part of some awesome experience... This is the everlasting feeling you always hold in your heart when you have intimacy with the God of the universe. You will still have pain, sorrow, anger... all of those human feelings, but joy is over it all. You can be angry and joyful. You can be sad and joyful. I am not sure how you can sin and be joyful though? I just am not sure that the combo of those two things is at all possible. I think you can sin and be happy. You can sin and be angry. You can sin and be sorrowful. I just can not think of an instance where you can sin and be joyful.

So are you a newlywed with Christ Jesus? I am, and I have known Him and been His for a long time, but it is still a feeling of Euphoria when I think about how much He has done for me. This is the same feeling the moment I said, "I do" and became Mrs. Simmons. Only this feeling is not a human emotion. It is a God given fruit of His Spirit.

Paul writes about the fruit of the Spirit and it is very striking language where He describes the kind of people who will NOT inherit the kingdom of Heaven:

Galatians 5: 19-26 19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So don't read this and think, "Well I'm not a drunk, one taken to orgies, into idolatry or witchcraft... and stop there and think, "I'm all good"! Read a little closer, discord, jealousy, FITS OF RAGE, selfish ambition dissensions... these are harder for many people to deny. Here is the thing, these are human fruits. Are you full of yourself sprouting forth this type of fruit?

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Now that we are Christians we are no longer allowed to be human and sprout human fruits. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit and His fruit will overwhelm the desire to put on human fruit. You know even when someone really hacks you off, puts you in your place, calls you out, or just messes up you plans... Good old self control will wield his helpful head taking over the fury and fits of rage which we as humans would love more than anything to show. I won't even mention the ever so helpful patience, peace, love, kindness, gentleness...

I know we all may mess up and we may spit off the old fruits, but let me point something else out. James tells us: James 3: 9-12, 9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

So what do we do if we mess up royally? Have we failed? Well, yes we are failures and this is why we need Jesus so desperately, but it is not all lost. You can apologize and admit you were wrong. You can give your account to the person you wronged! Here read this then I'll restate.  Matthew 12:36-37 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

So, if we mess up and speak carelessly (without care or concern for the one you are speaking to, I will add) the Bible promises we will give an account. So how about we go ahead and give our account here to the person we wronged? We step in, make amends for our mistakes, humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness? What else can we do here on earth? Not much. The tongue is capable of all kinds of evil and is sharper than a two edge sword. It guides us like a ship's rudder... These are all Biblical descriptions of the tongue. I am willing to bet that God would smile on our progress if we did this instead of waiting for Him to correct us. He is here to do this now through the Holy Spirit.

So as I am putting my glasses back on, I will claim one more thing from the scripture.


Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.