July 12
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” (Galatians 5:16-17)
I’d like to continue with the train of thought that we as Christians have the full power and ability to overcome sin if we really want to. Note in the verse quoted above that Paul presents the ability to “not carry out the desire of the flesh,” that is, that ability to not sin, as simply walking in the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit who resides in every believer. Paul does not give us complicated formulas, he simply says “walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
Now I will be the first to tell you that walking by the Spirit is not as easy as it sounds, at least it is not for me. But as we learn the Spirit’s voice and the Spirit’s ways and the things that grieve and quench the Spirit, as we seek the things above and get attuned to the things God is interested in, the ways of the Spirit become more plain and clear to us. But we have to be seeking Him, and we have to be wanting to know and obey His voice.
The problem for most of us is that we are so self-willed we really aren’t that interested in following the Spirit. We’d prefer that the Spirit follow us and bless us in spite of our stubbornness of heart and mind! If we have any resolve at all, it is a resolve to do what we want to do when we want to do it. We are resolved to be happy or have a good time. We are resolved to “find ourselves” and “do our own thing” rather than find Christ and do His work. We are focused on self-fulfillment, and as a result, we become self-absorbed. We might even be serving the Lord diligently for ill motives, seeking to satisfy some need to be recognized or a need to feel good about ourselves and how we are benefiting others.
It seems to me that the resolve to overcome temptation is the resolve to put Christ first in everything. It is much more difficult to overcome sin if all day long we do the things that we please, and then when we find ourselves in the quicksand of temptation try to muster up the resolve to get out of it. Why not be resolved to not get into the quicksand to begin with? Why not be determined to understand your sin habits so well that you are able to map our a strategy, by the Spirit of God, to master the flesh and minimize the situations in which you are tempted? The Spirit will reveal the path to victory if we desire it know it. He will fight for us and in us if we are resolved to give control of our lives to Him, to follow His lead, to obey His voice, to love Him, and put His ways above our own.
Are you resolved to only desire the will of God, to have no will of your own? Are you resolved to faithfully do His will, even if it means doing things you really don’t want to do, in obscurity and without the recognition of others? Are you seeking to find yourself or are you willing to lose yourself for His sake? Are you resolved to every minute of every day seek to know the leading of the Spirit, to seek to follow Him?