Extravagance is generally considered an undesirable trait. It’s defined as excessive, wasteful, exorbitant. Yet, when I look at God, I see extravagance as one of his attributes. I ask you to consider with me how excessive God is in his dealings with you.

Think about his mercy, which keeps you from having to pay the due penalty for your sins. The Bible tells us his mercies are new every day, and they last forever. He is just piling up mercy upon mercy each day, extravagant mercy, given to you without charge.

Then there’s his grace, which goes beyond mercy to give you undeserved blessings, and Scripture tells us he makes all grace abound to us in all things at all times, giving us all we need, so that we will abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8). Abundant, rich, extravagant grace.

As for God’s forgiveness, he goes beyond forgiving and separates your sins from you as far as the east is from the west, then proceeds to forget. Can you forgive and forget? No, that’s God’s kind of forgiveness—excessive, extravagant.

And think of this, not only do we have a God who allows us to come to him, we have a God who seeks for us. Can you imagine that?

Then there’s the extravagance of his creation. The unending blend of colors, the profuse variety and quantity of flowers, the breathtaking sunsets, the fragrant and delicious smells, the lush beauty of nature. God is absolutely lavish in his creation.

And then, not only are we allowed to worship him, we can call him Abba Father and come boldly to his throne. Not only can we accept him as our Savior, but he also comes to abide in us. The abundance of God’s love toward us is beyond our mental comprehension.

When we consider God’s extravagance toward us, as an old song says, how can we do less than live for him completely—after all he’s done for us.

I want to talk about Ichabod. How would you like to be named Ichabod? It’s not a lovely name, is it, but what it means is even worse. Ichabod means “The glory is departed.” In 1 Samuel 4 we read Phinehas’ wife named their son Ichabod, because the glory of God had departed from Israel.

As I thought about that, I wondered if my name is ever Ichabod. In our vernacular today, we might say, “Are you a has-been?” Could it ever be said of me that the glory God has given to me through Jesus Christ is no longer present in my life?

When Phinehas’ wife named her son Ichabod, it was because of the sin of Israel. They had disobeyed the Lord, and the ark of God had been captured. The ark was where God met them, where they talked to him, and where they received guidance. And their enemies had captured it because of their sin and disobedience.

We can be spiritual “has-beens” when our lives are full of disobedience. I can think of so many Christians I know who used to be mightily used of God. It could be said of them that they have been this or that for God, but now the glory has departed. Through sin and disobedience, Ichabod is now their name.

Could it ever be said of us that we have been in the past a person of love and compassion, but it’s no longer true? Have we lost the zeal we once had for Jesus? As I thought about this, I stopped and asked God if any of his glory has departed from me because of my lack of love or zeal? Have I become a “has-been,” an Ichabod?

In Christ we are given the right to be called the sons of God. That is glorious. We become the righteousness of Christ and are partakers of his holiness. That’s really incredible. And yet, we can lose the glory of all we have received from God if our lives are not continually in close contact with the Lord.

It takes a daily commitment, a disciplined life of time in God’s Word, an absolute set of our will to obey God and live by his principles, regardless. Without that, we can expect the glory to depart.

No, for sure none of us would want to be called Ichabod—the glory has departed. Is God’s glory still evident in your life to all who know you? If not, you can be restored to that original glory. Don’t let your name be Ichabod.

Stop and think: Where in Scripture do you find the term self-esteem? How about self-love? I’ll save you some trouble; you won’t find those terms in Scripture. They, along with self-actualization and a few others, are buzzwords of our contemporary society.

Of course, there are many words and phrases we use today which are not used in Scripture, and vice-versa, so the issue is the meaning and philosophy that has grown up around those terms. Scripture gives a different perspective of these self issues.

The only mention of self-love in the Bible is that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, which simply assumes we will naturally love ourselves. It is not a directive to love ourselves. There aren’t too many people who don’t truly love themselves quite well.

Self-esteem is the idea of having a high regard for one’s self. While we should know clearly that we are important to God, we are valuable, and we are special and worthwhile because God has declared that to be true, we cannot lose sight of the truth that our value is not found in ourselves.

I think we tend to attribute too much to poor self-esteem, and thereby believe if we can think better of ourselves, our problems will go away. Trying to feel good about something that by nature is not good, is a losing battle. That’s a different mindset than having respect for who we are in Christ and therefore appreciating your “self.” Maybe self-appreciation is a better term for us than self-esteem. The subtleties between the two are important.

Scripture teaches us our best self-efforts are like filthy rags to God. I think of Philippians 2, which says we should esteem or consider others more important than ourselves. Paul wrote to the Romans that our old self was crucified with Christ. Jesus taught us to deny ourselves and take up our cross.

That’s the biblical view of self we’ve somehow lost in our humanistic society where self has been elevated to the highest place of importance. As Christians, we need to have our minds re-shaped into biblical molds. The Christian’s identity search should end forever with the incredible realization that we are, through his grace, now called the children of God. Amazing, absolutely overwhelming. That self-identity will carry us until we see him face to face.

It has almost become a cliche to hear people say they’re seeking to know “who they are.” This lack of identity and purpose is real when we do not have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. If you don’t know God has created you, you are important to him, and your life has significance in his sight, then it’s easy to see why you would be searching for a meaningful identity.

However, I see that same search in the lives of many Christians. Indeed, there were some years in my life that were consumed with a desire to find myself and know myself. If it is true that our union with Christ brings meaning and purpose into our lives, why are so many Christians still looking for meaning?

Here are my thoughts. I believe the humanistic philosophy of self-focus has penetrated our Christian teaching and caused us to look at ourselves and to ourselves for answers; caused us to leave biblical principles and follow human psychological theories to find this meaning and purpose; caused us to place far too much emphasis on the self-issues of the day.

You can see how this could happen, because certainly the gospel is the good news that each individual is important to God; therefore, teachings which magnify the individual can easily be mistaken to have some biblical basis. There is a distinct line between the value of individuals and the magnification of self.

The “self” issues of today’s philosophy are very alluring. But when we are consumed with self, camouflaged as it might be by words which sound good to our ears, we are trapped into a self-focus, which can be very confusing as well as damaging. Friends, you won’t find a self-focus taught in Scripture. The only hyphenated self-word I’ve found in any Bible translation is self-control, which is quite different from self-love, self-confidence, self-actualization, etc.

Our identity is not found in making ourselves feel better about ourselves. The knowledge and esteem we need for ourselves come as by-products of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. There is abundant evidence all around us that self-magnification hasn’t worked.

It is very common to hear people say they’re trying to “find themselves,” to discover their identity. As I’ve attempted to understand exactly what that means, it seems to be a result of the self-focus, which is indicative of today’s humanistic, post-modern society.

And it also seems to be a way of expressing our innermost need to know our individual lives do have some meaning, that we have a purpose in being here. We’re not some gigantic coincidence of nature. That the joy and pain and happiness and suffering and peace and turmoil we experience are all part of some understandable plan.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1 that every person is born with a God-consciousness:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse (Romans 1:20).

Everyone knows instinctively there has to be a Master Planner, and our existence has to have more meaning than a haphazard coincidence. However, until we know God through Jesus Christ, that master plan remains a mystery. What else is there for a person who doesn’t know Christ except to try anything they can to discover who they are, why they are, and what their existence means.

The great news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is we all belong here. No Christ-follower needs to go around looking for an identity. God’s Word gives us clear answers. Once you’ve been born from above, you know you are a child of God, created by him in an orderly, planned process. He knows and cares for you individually. You are important to him; therefore, your life has meaning.

As you go out into the world each day, be aware of the people around you who are trying to find who they are because they don’t know Jesus. Be ready to share with them this great and glorious truth, that our lives have meaning when we are rightly related to God through Jesus.

Galatians tells us exactly what the fruit of the Spirit is.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23).

To answer the question of what it means to “be the fruit,” I want to look at each of them and offer some suggestions of how you implement this fruit in your life. It is the fruit of the Spirit, so obviously it must be a Spirit-empowered endeavor. But it won’t just happen unless we as disciples of Jesus Christ determine to “be the fruit” each day.

Let’s start with that first one: Love.

Here’s what someone wrote, and I think it is a great way to be the fruit of love: True love needs a personal touch. Here’s a way to show people you love them in an unexpected way. Get a package of blank greeting cards and make a list of friends and family—especially the ones you don’t see often. Write them a short note that shares how much you appreciate them. Send your cards out at random far away from any holidays or birthday. Let the little love note surprise them!

Now, that is a practical way to be the fruit of love. And cards have a greater impact than email, so spend a little money, buy a few stamps, and surprise some people with words of love.

Next is joy. Joy should be the trademark of a Christian. When you are joyful, your strength increases, because the joy of the Lord is your strength. There is so much negativity and bad news in our world today that if you’re not careful, you can let the enemy steal your joy. That’s one of his favorite tactics. What’s been stealing your joy? Or I might ask, who has been stealing your joy? Whatever or whoever it is, realize it is a satanic flaming arrow coming your way from the enemy, so put on your full armor and refuse to lose your joy. How? Sing good songs all day long. Find the humor in your day. Laugh a lot; laughter is incredibly good for you. Look for reasons to be happy, to be joyful.

Now we come to peace. Jesus said he would give us his peace, his unique peace that is strong enough for the toughest circumstances. Have you ever gone to Jesus in prayer and said, “Please give me the peace you promised. I need peace.” I heard a statistic 40% of all people in our country today are in some kind of depression or despair. Have you noticed how many people are searching for some kind of peace? Remember, Jesus’ peace is not like the peace the world offers. That peace is a band aid; it seeks to make you feel better with a temporary pain killer, but it just makes things worse.

Peter wrote we should seek peace and pursue it. Maybe you need to learn to take peace breaks when your day is going south. Just stop, find an alone spot, refocus your mind on Jesus, quote a verse to yourself and pray for the peace Jesus promised to give you. Pursue peace; go for it. Be the fruit—be peaceful!

Forbearance is next in this list of the fruit of the Spirit. We call it patience, and it can be one of the most difficult fruits for us to practice, at least it is for me. But there are so many opportunities in your day to practice patience, and patience takes practice. Pick one situation where you find it particularly difficult to be patient, and start working on it. When you go to the store, stand in the longest line to check out and make yourself wait. Talk to yourself, like: “Just cool it. This is not a big deal. You can wait a few minutes—it doesn’t change your life.” Something like that. That is bringing your thoughts into captivity and learning to re-direct your thought patterns. And it is a good way to discipline yourself; to be the fruit—to be patient.

Maybe you could use driving as a way for you to practice patience. Be kind to bad or slow drivers. Don’t yell or call other drivers names when you can’t get into the lane you need to. Keep at it until you see a difference in the way you drive and how you feel when you step out of the car. Go, be the fruit!

Kindness is next, and we all know what that means, right? No doubt, like me, you’re generally pretty kind to people you don’t live with, strangers, or people in places of authority. Your words are likely kind and pleasant, but what about the people closest to you? I remember how, before my husband passed, if my words or the tone of my voice were not kind, he wouldn’t let me get away with it. He would nicely confront me, and that was good!

And you know, that’s one way to be more kind—to be the fruit. Ask someone to hold you accountable and not allow you to get by with unkind words or actions. I discovered I simply was unaware that my words or actions sounded unkind. I never intended it but once it was brought to my attention, then I started to notice how quickly I can speak or respond, and how I can come across as unkind. Now that I’m aware, I am much more intentional about making sure my words are kind and sound kind.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:32).

I would guess Paul wrote this to the believers in Ephesus because they needed to learn to “be the fruit”—to practice kindness toward each other.

Goodness is next. How do you practice goodness?

Peter wrote, for this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge (2 Peter 1:5).

Make every effort, he says. Isn’t he saying, “Be the fruit”?

How many times did you tell your children, “Be good!”? And somehow instinctively they knew what you meant, even at very young ages. Being good is directly connected to behavior, right? You do what is good. Here’s an idea of how you can add to your faith goodness. Determine to be a better listener. Who needs a listening ear? I’m not talking about giving counsel or solving problems. Just listening. That is so good and it is so helpful to someone going through a difficult time. And of course, once you listen, you can always offer to pray for that person. That would be very good.

Faithfulness is a requirement for all Christ-followers.

Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth: Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2).

Faithful to God—first and foremost—faithful to reading the Bible and prayer, faithful to church attendance and involvement. Faithful to your mate and friends. Keeping promises and being dependable.

Would people who know you describe you as faithful or dependable? This is one fruit we can all be, regardless of how smart you are or how educated or experienced you may or may not be. Being faithful is a daily decision you make.

Don’t promise carelessly. Under promise and over deliver is a very good motto to live by. Then keep a record of all you’re responsible to do, every place you’re supposed to be, etc., etc. Don’t trust your memory. Faithfulness is required—not optional. If this is an area of challenge for you, pray much about it and determine each day to be the fruit—be faithful!

Gentleness is next in this list of the fruit of the Spirit.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger (Proverbs 15:1).

And you’ll remember our Lord Jesus described himself as gentle and lowly of heart. Frankly, the gentleness of Jesus is one thing about him I truly treasure because when he deals with me—and happens often—he always does so with such gentleness.

Do you think of yourself as a gentle person? I don’t mean wimpy or timid, but gentle; gentle in your words, reactions, facial expressions, tone of your voice? It is a very lovely fruit, and people will greatly appreciate it when you show gentleness to them. There’s not a lot of it in our harsh world today, so be the fruit—be gentle.

Self-control is putting discipline and restraints in your life to keep you from harm.

Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control (Proverbs 25:28).

Self-control is not allowing yourself to indulge in things that are not good for you—such as certain food, what you watch on television, what kind of conversations you engage in, etc. I remember a friend of mine, many years ago, was addicted to watching a trashy soap opera every day. She taped it while she was at work and the first thing she did each evening was watch it.

God began to convict her of this, and she began to practice self-control. She stopped recording the program. She said it was really hard the first day to walk out of her apartment without turning on the recording, but she exercised self-control and kept it up. That was the beginning of a new vibrant relationship with the Lord, and she has gone on to serve Christ in amazing ways. But it took self-control to turn her back on what she knew was not good for her—for her thinking and her mind—and once she did, it was a marvelous breakthrough for her. By God’s grace she broke that bad habit and through self-control, started growing into the outstanding woman she is today. She learned self-control.

Is there something in your life that has you in bondage—something not good for you? If there is, I’m certain you can identify it right away. It could be something you watch or read, a place you go, or some eating habits. You can’t imagine how freeing it will be for you when you can be the fruit—exercise self-control by God’s grace and put that bad habit out of your life.

That’s my challenge for all of us today: Be the fruit! Memorize this passage from Galatians 5, pray it into your life, put reminders around you, and work on the areas that are the most challenging for you. But don’t just talk about it or give verbal consent to the importance of bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Do it! Be the fruit! Paul wrote that against such, there is no law! Nobody can stop you from being the fruit and there is no greater testimony for your faith in Jesus Christ.

I’m examining, “Can this job be saved?” Here’s the last situation to consider.

Your manager doesn’t know the job, the company, the product, or the customers as well as you do. He is a young man recently promoted to the position, but with little experience or skills to do the job right. He makes a great many mistakes in dealing with customers, violates some company policies (through ignorance), and irritates other departments because of his lack of knowledge and expertise. Frequently he asks you to bail him out, but he never seems to learn and makes the same mistakes over and over.

You realize the department morale is rapidly deteriorating, and you’ve lost some good customers because of his ineptness. You feel strongly something needs to be done for the good of the company. What should you do?

This is not an easy question, because you’re not in authority in this situation, right? And for you to do anything to correct it, it seems you would have to go over your boss’s head to higher management. Is that the right thing to do? It’s a risky thing to do, to say the least. But on the other hand, for the good of the company and its customers, don’t you have a responsibility to do whatever you can to correct this situation?

Jesus told his disciples, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16).

In this situation I believe that means trying to find ways to make things better without overstepping your boundaries or making the boss look bad. I would begin by having a private conversation with the boss, carefully noting some issues have arisen, and offering your help. Perhaps you can even suggest taking some of the workload off his desk, as long as you don’t seem threatening. He might really appreciate some behind-the-scenes help because he probably knows he’s not doing a good job.

A time could come when all else has failed and you believe others need to know what’s happening. But that should be a last resort and should be done with great caution, not with a vindictive and critical attitude.

Can this job be saved? For example, take this situation.

You are the human resources director for a company that does a lot of business with the government. As a result, you have to complete government forms and abide by government rules in order to secure and keep your contract. Currently, you are required to complete a form which asks if you’re in compliance with some of their rules—and in fact, you are not.

Policies and procedures need to be changed in order to comply. You turn the forms into the president without your signature, noting the lack of compliance. Instead of agreeing to the needed changes which take time and cost money, the president insists you complete the forms, making up numbers and facts to satisfy the government requirements and sign and submit them. After all, he tells you, nobody will know the difference!

You explain you can’t do that as a matter of integrity. He is furious, grabs the forms, and says he will complete and sign them himself. What do you do now?

The question is, do you have further responsibility to alert anyone that the forms are not correct, or have you done all you can and should do? Certainly, taking this kind of stand could put your job in jeopardy. So, do you make matters worse by any further action on your part?

Every situation would have to be carefully considered. In most cases, I think simply refusing to be a part of any deceptive action is where your duty ends. But there could be situations where safety or other bad consequences might cause you to speak up against this illegal action.

And it may be true this job cannot be saved. You could lose your job as a result. Peter wrote about unjust suffering, and he said, but if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:19-21).

Suffering unjustly for the sake of what is right gets God’s attention. It’s the same kind of suffering Jesus endured, and he will give you the grace to endure as well. None of us asks for suffering, but if it is unjust, believe me, God will have the last word, and you will receive his favor.

Did you ever work in a situation that seemed like mission impossible? I’m asking the question: Can this job be saved? When you do find yourself working in a very stressful environment, as a Christ-follower, what can you do? What should you do to make the best of a bad situation? Here’s another situation to consider.

Your departmental manager is not liked by any of the employees. She is very unfair, discourteous to everyone, and in addition, doesn’t perform her own duties well. Everyone in the department talks about her in derogatory ways all the time. Nobody can figure out how she keeps her job. You’ve been part of that malicious talk at times.

As a Christian, you’ve now decided you don’t want to be a part of that character assassination toward your manager (even though she deserves it!). How will you keep from getting caught up in this office gossip? What could you do to change the climate?

Gossip is a vicious and deadly disease, and once it gets started, it is not easy to stop. There’s no question a Christ-follower should never be a part of this kind of malicious talk. In Romans 1, malice is described as wickedness, along with envy, murder, strife, and God-haters. God doesn’t take malicious talk lightly; it is sin.

Step one is to remove yourself from these conversations. Make it clear you won’t participate in malicious talk about anyone, including the boss. You probably won’t have to make a statement to that effect; the fact you don’t do it any longer will speak for itself.

Then use every opportunity you can to change the conversation. Sometimes one person can have a good influence on the corporate climate. Ask God to help you see your manager through his eyes, and reach out to her in some way, with encouragement and support. That kind of action on your part will not go unnoticed by your coworkers. Will it change their behavior? Who knows—it might, but it will certainly make a statement about your integrity and your testimony for Jesus.

Can this job be saved? I’m examining five different job situations and asking: As Christians, what should be our course of action if we find ourselves in such a predicament? Here is today’s situation.

You have recently been promoted and now work closely with a new coworker who is a single man. He’s very pleasant to work with, and you get along fine with him. However, you’ve noticed your husband is not too excited about this new job, and it seems to be because of your close working relationship with this single man.

How can you handle this situation so you don’t lose the promotion but still assure your husband he has nothing to worry about this coworker?

I might begin with asking what has caused your husband to have any uneasiness about your working relationship with this man? Is it because your husband tends to be the jealous kind, or have you talked about your coworker so often or so favorably it has aroused his feelings of jealousy? Possibly a change in how you speak of him would solve the problem.

If it’s a little more complicated than that, you must decide what is more important to you: A peaceful relationship with your husband or keeping your promotion. His fear or jealousy may be totally inappropriate and unfounded, but if that’s where he’s coming from, you should do whatever you can to allay those fears.

Have an honest conversation with your husband. Tell him you are willing to forfeit this job if that’s what will resolve this issue. You might consider inviting some coworkers to your home, including this man, so your husband can see for himself that your relationship is purely professional.

Above all else, don’t allow anything to start to replace your feelings and love for your husband. Don’t let the enemy get his foot in this door and try to ruin your marriage. Believe me, many illicit relationships have started just this innocently.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Proverbs 4:23).

This is a time to closely guard your heart.