Walk by the Spirit
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Galatians 5:16-24
The law in any culture, religion or government defines the boundaries of behavior. The Fire Department equivalent are our SOPs and GOs. Like true Firemen we tend to take out a mental scalpel and dissect these to see where we can broaden our ability to make our own decisions and still stay within the boundaries. We tend to unintentionally view spiritual laws in the Bible in a similar manner. Many times, Jesus said: “you have heard it said…., but I say to you…”. He was essentially saying: I know how you people interpret the law. You think that if you successfully walk the tightrope, but don’t cross the line, you can count yourself as justified. You are following an act, but not as a result of a desire to serve me. But I tell you, if you want to serve me, your heart and mind have to be pure first, then all good things follow.
God said you shouldn’t commit adultery (I think most of us can say we are good in this department), but Jesus said – if you’ve ever looked at someone with lust in your heart – you’ve broken that law. Compare this to Paul’s writing in Galatians: “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity…..” He frames one sin spectrum with these two transgressions: “sexual immorality” – on one end and “impurity” on the other. While one can be easily identified as an overt act, the other is often invisible and known only to us. One end is the full-grown manifestation, the other is the infant that needs us to feed, nurture and care for it to grow. And this is only one example of the sin spectrum. Consider the spectrum of murder versus hatred or jealousy. I can proudly say I’ve never committed murder, but I am totally guilty of jealousy and “fits of rage”. I’ve even been guilty of hatred. While these may never fully grow into the act of murder, Jesus says that I may as well be guilty of murder – if I don’t root it out and deal with it. Paul’s advice: to walk by the spirit and you won’t be led by the desires of the flesh. Walking by the spirit is both a choice and a gift. The choice is taking time to read and meditate on scripture (and be influenced by it). It’s choosing to deal with what each day throws our way – with grace and patience. It’s being deliberate in representing Jesus to a culture that doesn’t understand how awesome He is. James says that if we “draw near to God” that “He will draw near to [us]”. This is the gift – Him drawing near to us, that allows us to truly walk by the spirit. This gift changes everything. It’s what transforms lives and is the power to produce love, joy and peace – among other fruits that distinguish us as having been crucified with Christ. C.S. Lewis describes it this way:
“If we let Him – for we can prevent Him, if we choose – He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a ….. dazzling, radiant and immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright, stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness”