Challenges

 

(photo credit Frida Lannerström)

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.” (Galatians 5:25-26)

Since we have died to ourselves and live in Christ, we have the Spirit living in us, with resultant spiritual fruit. So why then do we seek glory and act conceited about our status, income, heritage, discipline, et cetera? Conceit is sin, not a fruit of the Spirit. Living conceitedly becomes an open challenge to a contest, which leads to battles internal and external, battles waging in our being and with other people. Conceit is our desire to set ourselves up as better or greater than someone else.

That is not all that happens. Conceit can cause other people to sin. Our attempt to grasp glory on earth causes others to believe striving for more attention, for whatever reason, is something to which to attain. This striving comes from envy. Envy is not a spiritual fruit but shows our discontent with and distrust of God and His provision.

The person who seeks glory challenges others to battles. He envies other people’s status. This person's actions create obstacles for others, as they promote their own lifestyle as the ideal. This conceited lifestyle leads to people competing for preeminence in various aspects of life. It causes envy among themselves and discontent and distrust in God.

Jesus Christ does not advocate living in a way to appear superior to others. Consider what Paul wrote about Jesus in Philippians 2:6-7. “(Jesus) who existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

Instead, we should live like Jesus through the guidance and gifts of His Holy Spirit who lives in each Christian. Instead of being conceited, quarrelsome, and envious, and instead of causing other people to stumble and follow that same way of life, live life with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Which fruit will you produce: the fruit of the Holy Spirit or the fruit of the flesh?

What do you need to confess to God and give to Him in voluntary submission today? He gives you the ability through His Spirit to take that first step. 

Give It Up

 

“We must not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another.”

— Galatians 5:26

 

We must not become conceited (having self-deluded conceit), provoking and irritating others with who we think we are and what we think we know, and being bitter because of someone else’s success. 

 

Instead of living in the flesh (in the old sinful nature), live by following the Holy Spirit’s guiding. Obey Him. (vs 25) 

 

Remember, you belong to Christ Jesus and have purposefully given to Him your old, sinful nature, effectively crucifying it—your old way of living—to be saved and follow Him. (vs 24) 

 

When you believed in Jesus for salvation, you intentionally gave Him your old life—you put your life on the cross—and you accepted from Him the new life He gives that is guided and used by the Holy Spirit for God’s holy purposes. You chose to become His servant and child.

 

So, walk by the Spirit—obey Him—and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. (vs 16)

 

Think of nothing else. Give yourself no credit. It’s only because of God that you have what you do and you’ve done what you’ve done. You have no basis to actively be conceited, arrogant or boast. God gave you everything. He called you to do those things. God empowered you and gave what was necessary to do that for which He called you to obey. Nothing you have and nothing good you’ve done originated from you. You received from God all you have, your attributes, and your giftings. SO, you have no reason to be conceited. Instead thank God and give Him all the praise.

Led by the Spirit: A Galatians 5:16-26 Devotional

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. Galatians 5:16-26 [NIV]

Paul spent this letter teaching the Galatians once again faith in Jesus Christ was what gave them salvation and eternal life. Other teachers had been in Galatia teaching them they had to obey the laws of God including the law that all men must undergo circumcision. These Judaizers added a works element to the salvation of the Gospel. Paul told them nothing of the flesh could give them salvation, but only by God’s grace through faith could they receive salvation.

In chapter five, Paul continued his comparison of living by the Law and living in the Spirit. He taught that living according to the Law was living in the flesh. It was based on what the person did or could do. Because it relied upon a person’s actions, which were often sinful – self-centered, arrogant, self-seeking, etc – living by the flesh could not save them nor give them right relationships with God and other people. Paul taught that living according to the Spirit of Christ, whom God puts in each new believer, was living with the love of Christ in them – love for other people and love for God. Paul said what is of the Spirit is contrary to what is of the flesh. What a person wants often goes against what God wants and what is best for every person affected.

In verse fourteen, Paul reminded the Galatians the Law is summed up in one word, “love.” Since people are sinful, they do not keep the laws God gave. The love of the laws is warped often because a person wants what he or she wants more than what God wants. Because of this, Paul gave the Galatians a list of actions and attitudes that are contrary to God and the intent of His Law. These actions are self-focused and break relationships between people and between the person and God. These acts of the flesh he identified in verses nineteen to twenty-one.

The love God seeks to implant into people, which the Law could not instill because of the sinfulness of humankind, comes through the Spirit of Jesus Christ who dwells within each believer. This love is not twisted by the machinations of a human mind or greed, but is pure and from God. Paul listed some of the attributes of a person in whom the Holy Spirit lives in verses twenty-two and twenty-three.

If you compare these two lists, you will find the second list builds relationship among people and with God, and develops a person’s sense of worth based on the value God places on the person. The latter listing of attributes and characteristics are in line with the purpose and intent of God throughout the whole Bible and align directly with the two greatest commandments Christ taught His disciples and followers. The intent of the Bible is for people to be in a love relationship with God. This love relationship then affects the relationship of people with each other. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:36-38 [NASB]).

Paul’s point to the Galatians, once again, was they were not to be tied to the Law for salvation because it could not give it. It provided bondage because the flesh is sinful. Instead, live by the Spirit, the freedom Christ put into each believer. By living in the Spirit, the person lives in the manner of Jesus Christ – with love for the Father and love for other people. By doing this, people will not become enslaved to their sinful, human selves. By becoming enslaved to their own desires people become self-focused, envious, and provoke envy. These do not lead to harmony and love, but to chaos and self-seeking.

Paul taught the Galatians they received salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by following the Law. By seeking to follow the laws, they tried to earn salvation, which no one can earn because of human sinfulness. Besides this, striving to earn salvation puts self-seeking ahead of the needs and care of other people. Jesus summed the Scripture when He said we are to love the LORD God and our neighbor. Self-seeking does not put other people first, but second or last. By allowing the Spirit to lead us instead of trying to earn salvation, we allow the love of God to show in us, care for others, and develop a deeper relationship between God and us in our hearts.

Today we each need to stop and consider if we are trying in our strength to be what God wants us to be – to love people, to do for them, to make sure we are walking in the right direction, etc. We need to stop and see if our focus has shifted from God and developing relationship with Him to a focus on ourselves and how we can do more for God. If we are focused on God and our relationship with Him, He will lead us in our daily steps. We will not have to wonder if we are doing what He wants us to do. We can get so caught up in working for God that we lose sight of our relationship with Him and then no longer hear Him as vividly.

Today, take a moment and stop to focus on God. Ask Him to guide you to know if you have walked away from your close relationship with Him. Return to your quiet time with Him reading His Word, praying for closeness and guidance, and walking from that quiet time with His Spirit guiding you. Focus more on being in relationship with God and less on doing. Your relationship with God and with other people will be renewed so that you follow the two greatest commandments as Jesus said in Matthew 22:36-38.

Be led by the Spirit.

Freedom A Devotion

Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18:19, & Galatians 5:1& 21

Isaiah, the fore-teller and fore-runner of Christ, in the Spirit of the LORD told the Israelites the LORD gave him good news to preach. The good news he told them about included healing for the brokenhearted, freedom for captives, release from darkness, comfort for those who mourned, and a day of vengeance by God. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He read Isaiah’s prophecy in the temple and said, “Today, this scriptures is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The freedom Isaiah spoke about and Jesus gave with His death and resurrection is precious. For the Israelites in captivity, it gave them hope that God had not forgotten them though they had sinned and fallen very far away from Him. God still called them His chosen people. He would not allow their sin and captors to take them away into permanent captivity. Jesus came to proclaim the same. He came to give freedom from sin and the death penalty that is attached to sin. Jesus stood before the men in the temple and proclaimed He is God’s way to salvation.

In Galatians 5, Paul encouraged the Galatians to keep standing firm and strong in the strength of Jesus Christ. His power to overcome sin and death is the power available to all God’s children to defeat the sin that Satan puts in our way to make us stumble or lose hope. Paul reminded the Galatian Christians Jesus gave them freedom from the slavery sin had them in. He said, “Do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection removed the power of sin – to ensnare and trap us into believing we have no hope and leads us to death. His power over sin and death gives each of us the same power if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. We Christians each day have the opportunity to choose to follow Jesus and live the life He offers or to follow the desires of our flesh. The first brings hope, love, and power. The latter brings darkness, stumbling, and entanglement. With Jesus there is freedom from sin, which entangles and draws a person into darkness and despair.

We have a choice –

Freedom in Christ Jesus, which brings hope and life

or

Slavery to Sin, which brings death and despair.

You have a choice.

Choose Freedom.