Day 4 – We belong to God and, as a result, his Holy Spirit changes us

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions 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. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”

Galatians 5:19-24 (TNIV)

In many ways this is a summary, perhaps a clarification too, of what we have already read this week. We have a sinful nature, and can distinguish what it wants to do from what God’s Spirit wants to do in us. When we chose to follow Jesus, we started to belong to him. The sinful nature was then “crucified” – Jesus took it to the cross with him, and it is certain to die, along with “its passions and desires” which produce sin in us.

Is our sinful nature dead yet? It doesn’t look like it – we’re still sinning! It should be as good as dead, though, and our desire to sin should be dying fast. This is a result of our belonging to Jesus. If our desire to do any of the things listed under “acts of the sinful nature” is alive and well, we need to bring that to God – otherwise we have a sign that we’ve not committed to where we want to belong. If we don’t belong to God, we will not inherit God’s kingdom – a pretty stark consequence.

In our work, we are probably used to being judged on results rather than just ideas about what we should be doing. If we have good ideas, we’d better get on with putting them into practice, otherwise they are a waste of time. God takes a similar approach with us, but the good news is that we don’t have to earn our salvation. Instead, God has given us his Spirit to live in us, and this is how we find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (including the control we need over our words). If we’re committed to belong to God, and show this by putting into practice what we learn in our relationship with him, God’s Spirit produces results, as a tree produces fruit. It is these results, this fruit, that God is looking for in us. (When you get a chance, follow through Jesus’ teaching about fruit in Matthew 3:8-10, 7:16-20, 12:33, 21:18-19 and 21:33-44 – it’s clear, God wants fruit!)

It’s worth noting here the difference between the “fruit” of the Spirit and the “gifts” of the Spirit listed elsewhere in the Bible. We will not get all of the gifts – God distributes them throughout the church so we have to work together to use them. However, we are expected to show all of the fruit, all of the time. We can hurt ourselves or others if we lack any of the fruit. God has provided the means for the fruit to grow – so are we seeing it, or are we stopping its development by holding onto our sinful nature?

To consider and pray throughout today

• What am I doing today that demonstrates love?
• What am I doing today that demonstrates joy?
• What am I doing today that demonstrates peace?
• What am I doing today that demonstrates patience?
• What am I doing today that demonstrates kindness?
• What am I doing today that demonstrates goodness?
• What am I doing today that demonstrates faithfulness?
• What am I doing today that demonstrates gentleness?
• What am I doing today that demonstrates self-control?