Over the fence, in the house next door lives a well-fed cute little grey cat called Pink. Once a day Pink comes to my kitchen window and if she cannot see my cat Gussy boy, she will come in and eat his food. Pink then moves on to the next house, and the next house to eat there. This reminded me of the words in Song Of Solomon. “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom”
As we journey with Jesus, prayer and reading the bible enables us to learn some lessons about fruitfulness in Christian living and in Christian service. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law”. These are the graces which should characterise us as Christians. The Holy Spirit has reached down into our heart, giving us new life and offering us new opportunities. Yet the little foxes, sometimes called the sins of the flesh rob our lives of the fruit that the Holy Spirit is waiting and wanting to produce in and through us. These include such sins as jealousy, pride and anger. We also can be affected by the cares of this world, such as worry, fear and anxiety.
The good news is that Jesus is our High Priest, our mediator. He is our intercessor, our Advocate General and Lord and Head of the church. Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “That is why we have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the temptations we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.
Sometimes we just need to close the window of temptation so that little foxes are unable to get in to destroy the fruit; a lesson I learned in dealing with that little rascal Pink.