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Walking in the Spirit

When we receive Christ and believe in His name, something changes—not just in our status before God, but in the way we live. It is the beginning of a Spirit-led life.

I know a woman who claims to be a follower of Jesus, but she treats her widowed mother horribly. She talks to her dog in a kinder tone than she does to her mom. She will tell her mom she hates her, then hang the phone up on her. Does she sound like anyone you would want to be around?

When I look at the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—I don’t see it in this “Christian” woman. She is self-centered and bitter, and it is impossible to see any trace of the Spirit within her. The members of the Trinity have loved each other for all eternity. Their love has always been other-directed. We were made for this other-directed kind of love. Self-centeredness destroys this love that God has created for Christians to share.

On a Christian’s very best day, and in their greatest strength, they can never act like Jesus. That’s why Jesus promised to send a Helper, the Holy Spirit. When we accept the free gift of salvation offered through Jesus, then the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). But life throws us curveballs, and even after becoming a believer, we often look to ourselves and other things for help instead of to the Helper. A friend told me about an argument she had with her husband, and said, “It’s nothing that three or four drinks can’t handle.” We have all been there; maybe we haven’t turned to drinking, but we may have turned to something or someone else to ease the pain of an argument or a difficult situation.

When left to our own devices, we would be totally given over to self-gratification. In Galatians 5, Paul said that it is for freedom that Christ sets people free, stating, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage,” and “do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh” (Galatians 5:1, 13 NKJV).

Paul was saying that Jesus came so that the Galatians would have an abundant life, but he did not want them to use that beautiful, life-giving freedom to feed the flesh (to indulge in self-gratification, self-absorption, self-centeredness). He went on to list the acts of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-22: “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” (NIV). Like the woman I mentioned earlier who is cruel to her mom, we can never live a free and abundant life when we are in bondage to any of the behaviors on that list. As you read God’s Word, He will reveal to you the differences between the Spirit and the flesh, and you will learn how to listen for His voice. This is part of the journey with God. Philippians 1:6 encourages believers, saying, “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” When God begins a good work in you, He will finish it!

Paul said to believers in Galatians 5:25, “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (NIV). To follow the Spirit’s leading is not a Sunday-only event; it is a continual way of life. When people live in the Spirit, they have His help in turning from the sins they have participated in.

When you are a Christian, with the Holy Spirit’s help, you are sensitive to the Spirit’s conviction of your sins, and you turn back to God. Paul said in Philippians 2:13, “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (NIV). Most of the problems Christians face would be solved if they were more aware of the Holy Spirit in their lives. He is not a bully; He loves those who are in Christ, and He will never shame them as He reminds them of the toll that sin is taking on their life. When the Holy Spirit is allowed to do His work, the result is a life of freedom, peace, joy, and power!