Called to Walk in the Spirit

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." (Galatians 5:16-17)

Paul has been building up to this point throughout his entire letter to the Galatians. Here, in the latter part of chapter five, we see the works of the flesh juxtaposed with the fruit of the Spirit. There is absolutely no denying that a grand tension exists between the Spirit and that flesh. In fact, Paul goes as far to say that the flesh is so contrary to the Spirit that it even incapacitates us to do the good we know we ought to do and even want to do (v. 17).

For example, I want to love people. I really do. I want to care about other people's needs, desires, dreams, and circumstances, but the truth is, my flesh simply doesn't care and won't allow me to either. My flesh tells me to care about myself: Me alone, at the expense of all others! No matter how much I desire to love others, I am simply incapable of doing so. This is my life in the flesh.

However, God has saved me and conquered my flesh through his Spirit. He has caused his Spirit to dwell in me daily to guide me into this love that I desire to have for others. Through God's Spirit alone I can truly love you, love others, and even love my enemies.

God's Spirit is transforming me daily to be more and more like his Son Jesus. Through the power of the Spirit of God I can obey the law of love; I can walk in faith which worketh by love! But without him... Oh, without the Spirit I am hopelessly lost!

If I am left to walk in the lust of my flesh then I am a dreadfully wicked sinner. I seek only what I want, only whats best for me. But by the grace of God alone, I can now walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the selfishness that I once held dear is now dead within me.

But what Paul really wants us to notice is that we can do no good thing in and of ourselves. All of our works are tainted with the lust of the flesh. All transformation, all good works, all obedience are works and products of the Spirit of God alone. They are not from us.

We cannot become more spiritually loving people through morality. I can not simply slap on a new exterior of good works, happiness, and joy and expect the interior to be changed. That would be as preposterous as laying new coats of paint on a termite infested, condemned house. It may look good on the outside, but the inside is rotting away.

Instead of this, we are taught that God through his Spirit heals us internally. He fixes what is broken within us. Then goodness, mercy, love, and obedience flow from within us and out to our hands, down to our feet, out through our lips, and into our mind.

The biblical analogy is that in the flesh we are as rotting corpses who can do nothing but sour the air with our rotting stench. But in the Spirit we are brought to life. God breathes life into our lifeless, dead bodies and it heals us. Our flesh which was once dead and good for nothing is now made fully alive and restored, not to live as if we were dead, but to fulfill the law of faith which worketh by love!

"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." (Galatians 5:24)

Through the Spirit our wickedness is put to death and our righteousness is made alive. Is there some grand struggle in your life that only God's Spirit can conquer?

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." (Galatians 5:25)

Love,

Jay