And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

“Filled with the fruit of righteousness.”

Have you ever seen a juicy orange? An orange so juicy that, as you peel it, the juice runs down your hand and arm? This is how full we are supposed to be. We are to be just so plump with righteousness and God’s love that it just oozes out at the slightest touch. How do we get this full? We fill our lives with the knowledge of God’s word and His great love.

Are you so filled with God’s love that when people are near you they can see, smell and taste God’s love? This is Paul’s prayer. Paul prayed that you would be so full that God’s love is easily seen and felt.

The next time you peel a juicy orange, think about how you can be so filled with God’s love that you can spread His Joy and Love to others just by being available, just by being you!

For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise... Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

So those of us who have the faith to follow God’s commands are blessed along with Abraham. In other words, I am lumped together with Abraham and the blessings fall on me as well. Who better to be lumped with then Abraham?

Abraham, the father of all nations, the man that knew God himself would provide (Genesis 22:8), the person Jesus said came after Him (John 8:58), the man who was declared righteous because he believed what God said (Romans 4:3).

In reading about Abraham, one can learn how patient he was with God’s timing. He sometimes waited a long time to see the promise, yet he waited. I know that if I am lumped with Abraham, then I, too, may have to wait a long time for some things.

What I can learn, then, is patience: something God wants and something that is possible for me to achieve. After all, Abraham was able to be patient: why not me?