Good morning…
Turmoil stirs us from sleep. Deep hunger and homelessness litter our streets. Senseless violence and the threat of war push us to the brink. Fires of all kinds blaze around our globe, and we are witnessing the third-ever impeachment of a President in the history of our deeply divided United States. This is just a fraction of the unrest sounding our alarm clock. We wipe our sleepy eyes and turn inward to see: our best laid resolutions are quietly crumbling, the soul-sucking power of same-ole, same-ole drags us down, again, and a rising anxiety nags, “Will I ever grow up into all I am designed to be?” Like a tantrumming two-year old trying to get our attention, life wears us down to our very core: “God, what do You want from me?”
“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives,” whispers Galatians 5:16 (NLT). “Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” The Amplified Bible version deepens God’s directive: But I say, walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts]. The Message translation now expands God’s Word into verses 17 and 18. My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
Together, let’s break down this Word of advice. Live freely. Live animated and motivated by God’s indwelling Spirit. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25, NIV). With the power of the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, we can choose, choice by choice, not to feed our impulsive compulsions, “Me first. Me most. I have to, right now.” Remember? Our self-centered self-interest separates us from the freedom of being gradually guided by God. Free will is woven wonderfully into the fabric of our God-designed True Self. Since the beginning of time we, me and you, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love (Galatians 5:13, NIV). Moment-by-moment we have decisions to make. Which master will we allow to grab hold of our hand, our demanding desires or God’s loving dream for our unique life? We can choose, step by step, to walk in the Light of the Spirit illuminating today’s portion of our personal path or we can choose to wander away in the darkness of our short-sighted selfishness, handcuffed to our human nature, facing the turmoil of life on our own.
These two ways of living are antithetical, contrary and contradictory, opposed and opposite, polarizing and pulling us apart. God is wise to remind: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom] (2 Corinthians 3:17, AMP). Knit together by God with the gift of free will, we wake each morning to one important question. (Here is where God’s Word becomes very personal.)
Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
Talk amongst yourselves, you and God, as you meet at the crossroads in the tumult of today.
…Sue…
