Recent headlines have chilled me to the bone.  I shudder for the people involved in these horrendous stories. A school bus driver recently unloaded his whole bus load of kids on a deserted back road.  His explanation was that he had just had enough.  He couldn’t take it any more. A convicted rapist breaks in the home of a young coed and strangles her to death.  No apparent reason for the murder. A wealthy lawyer murders his wife and the judge who granted her a divorce.  A small child has lost a mother and a father. A man breaks in a local home and kills three children and a young mother; the father finds his family dead.  The crime was a result of drugs.  The killer didn’t even know the family. You know the stories.  We could go on and on with one morbid, heart-rending story after another. What is wrong with our society?  What is wrong with mankind?  How can human beings do such evil deeds to one another? I am convinced that we are not connected to the right spirit.  Christian and nonChristian poll takers tell us that our society is a generation of seekers.  They are more interested in religious and spirit-centered activities than they have ever been.  Apparently, we aren’t connected to the right spirit. We might assume that the perpetrators of such crimes are not Christians.  Some profess to be Christians.  What about those who attend church, bow their heads in prayer, shake hands with brothers and sisters…then are found biting and devouring fellow brothers and sisters with their words or unkind remarks.  What about those who lose their tempers and behave in most disreputable ways in meetings or traffic?  What about those who fight all the way to church, step out of the car, and become Brother or Sister Supersaint? We have convinced ourselves that we are wireless when we are still wired. On a recent trip, we had multiple problems with the Internet.  One hotel promised that they had wireless, high-speed Internet.  When we arrived, they had dial up – if you had your own service provider.  The next hotel promised wireless, high-speed Internet.  We could never get over 1 mpb of speed and everything usually timed out before it could be transmitted.  We changed rooms.  We were given a box to plug into the computer and the wall – there was no connection in the wall.  At the last hotel, we were promised wireless, high-speed Internet.  We couldn’t connect at all until we got a box that plugged into the wall and into our computer; then only one of us at a time could use the Internet.  We were supposed to be wireless in each hotel, but we were still wired. Many Christians believe they are wireless, but they are still wired.  And until they convert to wireless, they will never live victorious, Spirit-filled lives. Galatians 5:13-23 (HCSB) 13 For you are called to freedom, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. 16 I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar, about which I tell you in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. When my son was very small, he came to me and asked for a list of everything he should not do as a Christian so he would never sin.  I tried to explain in childlike terms that there is no such list.  There are two commandments that we must follow; they are love the Lord Your God with all your heart; Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus couldn’t have made it any simpler.  Paul tries to get this principle across to the Galatians.  He tells them that, as Christians, we are free!  But this freedom doesn’t give us the right to be mean to one another.  We are to serve one another in love.  He says that if we will focus on living in the Spirit – walking as Jesus did – then we will not act in carnal ways.  He goes on to tell us what characteristics in our lives show that we are following the Spirit. If this is true, then why are Christians biting and devouring one another?  For that matter, why do we become so angry and bitter with our pre-Christian neighbors? I believe it is because we are thinking that we are wireless when we are still connected with a wire. If you are wireless, you are in direct communication with the Spirit of God.  He will consume you and control you.  If you are still wired to the world and the lusts of the world, then you will not show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control.  You will be quarrelsome, cruel, harsh, concerned that you are not mistreated, focused on your own needs, controlling, brash, and easily angered. When you draw near to God and allow Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit, you won’t even have to remember these nine characteristics.  These traits will be an outgrowth of loving God and loving people. When James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans who rejected Christ, Jesus reminded them that they didn’t know what kind of spirit that Jesus was of.  Do you remember that?  He reminded them that He had come to seek and to save the lost, not to destroy them. Why do we bite and devour one another?  Because we are not spending time with Jesus every day and throughout the day.  If every Christian spent adequate time in prayer and Bible Study, then when they come together to discuss courses of action, they would all be in one accord (unified) because each has been given the same Spirit.  But when we quench the Holy Spirit and grieve Him, He cannot work through us or in our hearts. Jesus wept over the hardness of people’s hearts.  Many prophets and disciples suffered physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and relationally because of the hardness of people’s hearts. Are you connected to the Spirit of God?  Are you wireless?  Are you free, high-speed?  Or… Are you still wired to the devil and the things of the world?  Are you carnal?  Are you costing others their joy and peace? Let go and let God!  Love God!  Love People!  It is so easy and so rewarding. Matthew 25:40 (HCSB) 40 “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’