Listen to who

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

LISTEN TO WHO

Gal 5:16-18

16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

NIV

It would have been difficult to understand want is said about the two natures being in conflict and the difference between living by the Spirit and being under the law unless we included the two different types of life. We may have to camp out on this section for a couple of days in order to fully deal with the whole issue. Just the idea of living by the Spirit is a difficult concept as when we do, we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. That does not mean we do not have those desires, but that we will not pursue them in order to gratify them. The Spirit helps us to say no to those desires. But it also seems to say that we would not even have those desires if we lived by the Spirit. The two natures are in conflict, they do not want the same thing. But the confusing thought is when Paul says that we do not do what we want. Here it would seem our overpowering tendency is to fulfill the desires of the sinful nature, but there is a greater power or influence by the Spirit to help us restrain ourselves from doing that which we would want to do as controlled by our sinful nature, thus the conflict. So then when we fail, or fall short and allow that sinful nature to take over, does that mean we are not allowing the Spirit to lead us? It would also seem there is a great distinction between the two natures as we look at the acts of the sinful nature and the fruit of the Spirit. Surely we do not live as those acts of sinful nature describe. We put them in a very sinful category which we would never do. Yet if we examine them, which we might just have to do later, we might find some very subtle sins we overlook. But we will again leave that examination to later. For now, we need to say with the idea of walking by the Spirit or being led by the Spirit. We know the Spirit dwells within us and he desires to influence the way we live, which would include the way we think. Yet there are those times when we think of things that are contrary to the Spirit. Again, we do not think we can avoid those thoughts, but the difference is whether we respond to them and act them out. If we say we do not ever have a sinful thought, we think we would be deceiving ourselves, as that would imply we are perfect, or that we have attained perfection, we also know is extremely doubtful, as we still have thoughts that are in conflict with the Spirit, but we also know we have to rely on the Spirit to lead us away from acting upon those thoughts. He speaks into our hearts and mind and tells us to resist that temptation. It comes down to who do we listen to more.