Living in the Spirit
June 24, 2016

Scripture Reading: Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. –Galatians 5:16-25

The laundry lists of the don’ts of the Bible aren’t always what we want them to be, especially when they hit a little too close to home. We are much more comfortable being concerned about what a very few people might be doing that we would never do, and holding those actions up as examples of things that separate us from God and building God’s Kingdom. We sure do not want to hear about strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, or envy, each of which we are all probably guilty of practicing on any given day.

All of this laundry list from Paul include activities that involve walking down a wrong path, or worse yet, leading others down a wrong path. They are all apt to also result in hurting ourselves. God wants us to take care of ourselves and each other.

The fruit of the Spirit does just the opposite of the don’ts. The fruit of the Spirit helps us build each other up which also builds each of us into better servants of God.

Prayer: Convict me when I get caught up in the things that separate me from you, turn me around and show me the way for me to walk the path of the Spirit. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.