Note on No More Christian Butt Kicking

In summary, I think I reached my limit last Sunday on sermons that tell Christians they are bad and off and slow and sinful, and to stop it right now! Oh, and then tell them to act differently and that will take care of the whole thing. Ta-da! Change your behavior and you’ve changed yourself. God will finally be satisfied, right?

Wrong. That’s just not it at all.

We live by faith, not by a butt whoopin'.

If there's something amiss in our behavior, it's because of something we do not yet believe, and has become a way in which we do not offer ourselves to God--who now lives in us.

Unfortunately, we often make the futile attempt to live by the flesh, which always proves frustrating and impossible for the Christian. If, however, we offer ourselves to the Spirit because we actually believe He lives in us, He will produce what Christ is like--the fruit of the Spirit.

Angry butt whoopin's do not form Christ in us, nor do they produce the fruit of the Spirit. I'm not saying we shouldn't ever get mad; I'm saying that without the truth and the assistance of the Spirit, anger will not produce the Christian life.