MrsDrPoe: "You Will Obtain Your Goal If You Maintain Your Course"

It's another Theology Thursday here on the blog!  As always, I invite you to open up your Bibles with me as we look at a portion of God's Word.

The title for today's post came from an old fortune from a cookie that I noticed on my jewelry box window this morning..."you will obtain your goal if you maintain your course."  When I read it, I started thinking about goals and courses.

Spiritually speaking, there are only two "goals" or end-points in life: heaven or hell; although, very few people would admit that their goal in life is to go to hell.  So if there are only two "goals" that are by nature mutually exclusive (i.e. you can't go to both), then the course each of us is currently on must lead to one or the other.  This reminded me of Galatians 5:16-26, which contrasts the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.

The works of the flesh (the course that leads to hell):

adultery

fornication

uncleanness

lewdness

idolatry

sorcery

hatred

contentions

jealousies

outbursts of wrath

selfish ambitions

dissensions

heresies

envy

murders

drunkenness

revelries

The fruit of the Spirit (the course that leads to heaven):

love

joy

peace

long-suffering

kindness

goodness

faithfulness

gentleness

self-control

After all these thoughts this morning, I asked myself a question that we all need to ask ourselves...regardless of what we say our goal is, what is the course that we are on?  Are we following the works of the flesh or growing in the fruit of the Spirit?  As the fortune cookie said, our course will take us to our true goal.