Live by the Spirit
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Galatians 5:19-25
The world’s philosophy is “live and let live.” The idea is that you do what pleases you and just focus on your own life. This mindset encourages doing whatever comes naturally without any regard for the consequences. This is contrary to a person that believes in God. From the text, Paul said that those who live asking to be filled by the Holy Spirit should no longer live by “the flesh.” The Spirit of God that resides in the life of every believer will wage a battle against selfish desires. Once you come to know Christ as Lord and Savior, the Spirit of God lives in you. Your body is now the temple of the Spirit (see 1 Cor. 3:16, 6:19). Though positionally you are made righteous in the sight of God, you are still flawed and imperfect and susceptible to give in to desires that are outside the will of God. This is why God’s admonition is for a believer to regularly submit to the leading of the Spirit. Victory over sinful desires is not a one-time event in our lives. We overcome sin moment by moment. Understand that fighting sin is not an easy thing to do. In fact, we are commanded to flee from the devil and not confront it head-on. “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Apart from the leading of the Spirit, it will be difficult to win over sin and live following God’s will. It is the Holy Spirit that will give us guidance as to how we will live the new life. It is Him who will give us strength to flee from sin. God wants us to be victorious over sin. It is Him who will produce the fruit that will give us meaning and purpose in our Christian lives. So let us live by the Spirit and let His presence fill us each day of our lives.
Blessings,
Noel De Guzman
www.my-wbc.com
