Here is an interesting piece of food for thought that I first heard from Mr. Nazigan last summer at the Word of Life Ranch where I was a counselor.
If I have a water bottle in my hand and you bump my arm and water spills out onto the ground, why did the water come out? Because you bumped my arm, right? Wrong!
What? But if you hadn't bumped my arm, the water wouldn't have come out! You are responsible! Wait. There is a deeper reason. Water came out because water was in the bottle in the first place. If orange juice had been in the bottle when you bumped my arm, water could not have possibly escaped onto the ground.
But of course. What's so profound about that?
Let's apply this principle to our everyday lives. There will always be trials that will "bump our arms," so to speak. Yet those trials are not at fault for what comes out of us. If anger comes out, it does so because it was already present deep within our hearts. If love comes out, it does so because love was inside of us. Neither you nor I can ever change how we react to those "arm-bumps." What we must concern ourselves with is what is present inside our hearts. If we are controlled by fleshly emotions, then what escapes us will only be displeasing to the Lord and embarrassing to ourselves. On the other hand, if we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, then the fruit of the Spirit that shines after each "arm-bump" will surprise the watching world and bring glory to our Father.
What do you want spilling out of your water bottle today?
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