Week 23—Friday Galatians 5:19-22
Galatians 5:19-22
THE PAYOFF IS IN THE PERSON
In the closing words of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus sums up the whole outcome of this inner division: “Thus you will know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:20). The outcome is the criterion. Life renders its verdict and the verdict is the outcome—the fruit, the finished product. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing [the Word become word] but inwardly are ravenous wolves [not the Word become flesh]. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit” (Matt. 7:15-17). The good ends in good and the bad in bad. The judgments are inherent, not imposed. They come out of the nature of reality. They are inescapable.
“I am two persons,” said the vice-principal of a great educational institution—“one when I am with you, and another when I am with a crooked political group.” The end was suicide. The end of a divided personality is just that—suicide, slow or sudden. The personality is destroyed by the very inner division. The good is good for us, and the bad is bad for us. The outcome of the good is good, and the outcome of the bad is bad. And there are no exceptions.
Jesus is simply lifting up the laws underlying the universe. He was pronouncing their judgments. His and theirs were the same. For he made those laws.
“It’s all right to do these things,” said a woman in regard to sex license, “provided you can get away with it.” I replied, “That ‘provided’ is a very big word. Nobody gets away with anything. For the payoff is in the person. The results are registered in the person. You become what you do.” And psychiatry, when it is honest, would say “Amen” to the above. For life says it.
O Jesus, we write our own sentence of judgment and we are writing it day by day. And some day we will say with Pilate: “What I have written I have written.” Save us, dear Lord, from writing the wrong thing before it is too late. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I am what I am, because I have chosen as I have chosen.