“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” — Galatians 5:22-23

In The Zone

On May 7, 1995, the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks met for Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals. With 20 seconds remaining, the Knicks held a fairly comfortable six-point lead. Then something amazing happened. With 18.7 seconds remaining, Indiana’s Reggie Miller made a three-point shot, stole the inbounds pass from Greg Anthony, dribbled back to the three-point arc and tied the game with a second three-pointer, stunning the Knicks bench and their fans.

On the ensuing possession, Knicks guard John Starks was fouled but missed both free throws. Patrick Ewing managed to rebound the second miss, but his shot rattled out. Miller rebounded the ball, was fouled, and made both free throws. Trailing by two points, the New York Knicks had one last chance to tie or win the game, but failed to get a shot off, giving Miller and the Pacers a stunning 107-105 victory. Miller had scored eight points in 8.9 seconds. There is no doubt, Miller was “in the zone” that day!

We often talk about athletes being “in the zone,” but have you ever experienced this in your life? When you are living life “in the zone,” all the parts of your life just seem to click. Paul challenges us in Galatians 5:16 to “walk in the Spirit.” He goes on to indicate that if we walk in the Spirit we will experience the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

If we will discipline ourselves to walk in the Spirit, we will begin to portray the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, and then we will begin to experience what it means to live our lives “in the zone”!

— Todd Green

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