Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! Matthew 11:15
“It is God’s intention that our lives should be a seamless manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). He has made abundant provision for His indwelling our lives in the here and now. Appropriate attention to the care of our souls through His empowerment will yield this rich spiritual fruit and deliver us from the sad list of “deeds of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19-21). We can be channels of the grace of the risen Christ, and through our ministerial activities–speaking, praying, healing, administering–He can minister to others. But we must attend to the means of His grace in practical and specific ways to experience His life into and through our lives.”
Dallas Willard in The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship (New York: Harper Collins, 2006) 124-125.
For our lives to exhibit the fruit of generosity we must give “appropriate attention to the care of our souls.” If you are like me, and you move at a fast pace, this calls for rhythms that teach you to slow down. These must be learned with practice.
We are only about ten days away from the season of Lent when we will practice such rhythms. Start thinking now. What you will fast from so that you can feast more on Jesus? What will you sacrifice so that you can share with the poor? What will cut out of your schedule so that you can spend more time in prayer?
With regard to the care of our souls, we must take care to practice such rhythms regularly to allow Jesus to fill us with His grace “in practical and specific ways” Why? So we are sure to become generous “channels of the grace of the risen Christ”!