Day Twenty-Seven: Are You A Christian In Name Only?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”- Galatians 5:22-23
 
According to a Gallup poll on www.gallup.com:
 
“The large majority of Americans -- 77% of the adult population -- identify with a Christian religion, including 52% who are Protestants or some other non-Catholic Christian religion, 23% who are Catholic, and 2% who affiliate with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Another 18% of Americans do not have an explicit religious identity and 5% identify with a non-Christian religion.”
 
So many people identify as Christians, because they attend a church or because they grew up in the faith. But Paul tells us that we will know Christians by the “fruit” they produce in their lives. Think about the Christians you know:
 
How many of them show kindness to their enemies?
How many are patient when they are afflicted with a debilitating illness?
How many exude joy when life is handing them a case of lemons?
How many exhibit self-control when their feelings and circumstances dictate otherwise?
 
Many can demonstrate these fruits when everything is going well. But the true test is when life is spinning out of control.
 
Where are you in this list of fruits? No Christian is perfect t all of them. But as you peruse the list, which fruits stick out you as ones you possess? Which ones are you still working on?
 
You’ll never get to a point where you are doing all of these things well on your own. Who do you know that can help prune the parts of your life in such a way to allow those non- existent fruits to begin growing?