Walking in the Spirit

     Change. It’s not easy to implement or endure, especially as we get older. But God calls us daily to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, which means not just learning new truths but applying them. This, of course, involves change. I’ve gone through long periods of stunted growth where it appears I’m stuck in certain sin patterns unable to break free. But the reality is that if I’m in Christ, the old is gone and I’ve been made new. I’m no longer a slave to the things of the past but free to live in the newness of life that Christ has bought for me.
     It’s sad when as Christians we look and act so much like the world that it’s hard to tell the difference. We often view our sanctification as something that simply happens without much effort-- kind of like a magic pill that transforms us.  But God doesn’t force spiritual growth on us, and it only comes through surrender and obedience. By faith, we daily choose to live and walk in the Spirit as we apply God’s word to our world and thinking
     Each day is a journey involving dozens of crossroads. As we reach each one, we’re faced with a decision about how to respond. Do we return good for evil or evil for evil?  Do we choose to be a servant or to be served, to be honest or to lie, to forgive or hold a grudge? The list is endless. Though we can’t obey without God’s help, we also can’t expect him to possess us and force us to make the right choices. He wants to direct our steps and give us wisdom in all we do, but we’ll only have it as we’re asking for it and submitting to his leading.
     Every day, every hour, every minute, in fact, we have choices. We can decide to surrender and follow God’s leading or to be in control and do what our flesh desires. It may seem like there aren’t severe consequences to many of our small choices, but together they form the framework of our lives. Weeks pass into months which, before we know it, become years. The life choices we make on a daily basis develop into the spiritual or fleshly patterns of our lives.
     These sin patterns don’t appear overnight, and they’re not usually broken overnight either. There are several areas in my life right now that I know need to be surrendered afresh to God. As I’ve been yielding my will to his and asking for wisdom to grow and change, I’m sometimes disappointed by my slow progress. At times it’s one step forward and three steps back. The temptation is to give up and go back to the old way of doing things, the old way of thinking, because it’s familiar and easy. But the Spirit continues to remind me that he’s come so that I can be truly free. Walking and living in that freedom involves struggle that eventually gives way to fruit. The more I walk in the Spirit and resist the pull of the flesh, the more fruit my life will bear and the more joy and peace I’ll experience.
     I’m praying again this morning that I’ll choose faith over fear today, kindness over anger, a genuine life over insincerity, that I’ll speak the truth in love. Because God is at work in me giving me these desires I can trust him for the power to resist temptation and to choose a life of love in Christ. You can too!
     “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Gal 5:16