Today we read Galatians 5 about our freedom in Christ. How sweet is that! Since Christ loved us and died for us, if we sin today we are already forgiven. :-) We are told that if we try to find favor with God by keeping the law, that we have fallen away from God's grace. But if we live by faith in the Spirit, we receive the promise to be made right with God through faith. And our faith is made evident and expresses itself in love.
In verse 13, we are reminded that we are not given freedom to satisfy our sinful nature, but to serve one another in love. If we are living according to our new life in the Spirit, we won't crave doing sinful things. But we are told that our choices are never free from the conflict of these 2 forces (our sinful nature and the Holy Spirit within us).
If we rely on our intellect and strength, we will make bad choices with consequences. But if we are ready to listen to God through His Word and obey it, discerning the difference between our feelings and the Holy Spirits prompting, then we will be following His lead.
Following our sin leads to: immorality, impurity, lust for pleasure, idolatry, demonic activity, anger, selfishness, pride, envy, drunkenness, partying, and the like. Living this sort of life does not lead to the Kingdom of Heaven.
However, allowing ourselves to be controlled by the Holy Spirit (surrendering our will to His), produces joyful things like: love, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. The coolest part about letting God be in control is that we are free to do all of these things as much as we want, and there is no conflict with the laws of God.
Romans 8:9 "But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christian at all)."
Romans 8:12 "So... you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do." vs 14 "For all who are lead by the Spirit of God are children of God."
I pray that we would all seek the Holy Spirits leading, and feel the joy that only comes by being a child of God. :-)
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