Everyone wants to be cool. Okay, maybe not everyone. But, to
look at TV commercials and Facebook posts, “I am the coolest,” “I dress the
coolest,” “My child is the coolest,” and “My crowd is the coolest. Even, “My
church is the coolest.” Cool rules.
Paul spoke of fruit rather than coolness. He said that you
know God is afoot in a person’s life when you see these things.
Love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control
Further, the following are signs that we
have turned our backs on God and a change is in order.
Fornication,
impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger,
quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy,
drunkenness, carousing, and things like these
I hope you are cool and have cool surroundings. But I hope
more that we live a life with God in such a way that we can be excited enough to
post that we have demonstrated (as have our friends, family, & church) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
19 Now the works of the flesh
are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry,
sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy,
drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned
you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 By contrast, the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness,
and self-control. There is no law against such things.
Galatians 5:19-22 (NRSV)
The yearning to be cool is really a desire to be liked, respected, and appreciated. Isn't it interesting that people characterized by love, joy, peace, etc., are usually more liked and appreciated than people whose main concern is being cool?
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