Day 4 — Keep In Step With The Spirit
Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit, open God’s Word to me and expose the desires that compete within me. Fix my eyes on Christ, deepen my love for others and lead me in the freedom of holiness. Teach me today to walk and keep in step with you. Amen.
Headline
Christian freedom is not freedom to indulge ourselves, but freedom by the Spirit to love and to grow the character of Christ.
Galatians 5:13-26
13 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.14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Comment
Yesterday, we saw that Christian growth involves putting off the patterns of the old life and putting on the character of Christ. But this is not a moral makeover we accomplish through willpower. Today’s reading shows us the source and direction of genuine change: the Holy Spirit leads us away from the desires of the flesh and grows the fruit of Christlike love as we learn to keep in step with him.
Paul begins and ends with freedom. The Galatians have been freed from trying to establish their standing with God through law-keeping. Yet gospel freedom is not permission to make the self supreme. We are freed from slavery to sin and self in order to “serve one another humbly in love” (v.13).
That makes love the measure of virtue. DeYoung notes that the Christian tradition does not prize excellent character as a project of self-perfection. Augustine understood the virtues as forms of rightly ordered love for God. The opposite is also true: the vices take genuine goods and pursue them in disordered ways – at the wrong time, to the wrong degree, or as substitutes for God.
Paul calls this disordered power “the flesh”: fallen human nature curved in upon itself. Its works range from sexual sin and idolatry to jealousy, rivalry, rage and division. Several are painfully ordinary church sins. The flesh does not merely break private rules; it bites, devours and destroys communities.
Against this stands the “fruit of the Spirit” (v.22). Fruit is singular: love expressed through joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are not separate spiritual hobbies for different personalities. Together they portray the character of Christ, grown by the one Spirit in every Christian.
Fruit is grown, not manufactured. We cannot staple virtue onto our lives by sheer effort. The Holy Spirit gives new life and produces what God desires. Yet organic growth is neither instant nor effortless. Paul repeatedly tells us to “walk” (v.16), “be led” (v.18) and “keep in step with the Spirit” (v.25). The Spirit’s work calls for attentive, repeated responsiveness.
Keeping in step suggests a next movement rather than a heroic leap. When jealousy rises, we can thank God for his goodness to another person. When anger gathers force, we can pause, pray and answer gently. When self-indulgence beckons, we can choose the loving service directly before us. Such choices do not purchase the Spirit, but they are ways of walking where he leads.
Paul adds that those who belong to Christ “have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (v.24). At the cross our old realm received its decisive sentence. Its desires still resist, but they no longer own us. We can say no because we belong to the crucified and risen Christ and his Spirit lives in us.
Why does God want me to hear this today? Perhaps because the conflict within me has made me doubt that change is possible, or because I have expected the Spirit to change me without my daily attention. The conflict is real, but it is not the whole story. I belong to Christ. Today the Spirit will lead me in a concrete direction of love, and I can take that next step with him.
Reflect
- How does verse 13 redefine Christian freedom?
- Which work of the flesh most threatens loving relationships around you?
- Which aspect of the Spirit’s fruit would make Christ’s love more visible in you today?
Action
Pause at three points today and ask: “Holy Spirit, what would love do next?” Choose one specific action – patience, kindness, gentleness or self-control – and do it promptly. At day’s end, thank God for his work and confess where you resisted his leading.
Closing Prayer
Holy Spirit, thank you that I belong to Christ and am no longer ruled by the flesh. Crucify my disordered desires and grow in me the beautiful fruit of Jesus’ character. Free me from conceit, rivalry and envy, lead me into humble love, and teach me to keep in step with you in the ordinary choices of this day. Amen.
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