StriperAddict
Senior Member
Following Jesus and Knowing God’s Will
The Spirit of God who lives in us is producing fruit. Galatians 5:22–24 details it this way, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
It is Holy Spirit who produces this fruit. That’s why it is called the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruit of our best efforts. Notice here also however, this very important point. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
This is too important to miss. You do not want to think and act in ungodly ways. Your true heart’s desire is godliness. How can you know that? You belong to Jesus and scripture says that you have crucified fleshly passions and desires. Whatever is crucified is well and truly dead, and we are told this happened in the past—you have crucified—past tense those passions and desires.
Still, we all find ourselves behaving badly from time to time. From this, it appears that something is amiss. We have been made righteous. That’s who we are, but we still have a soul, our mind, will, and emotions. The change that’s needed is in our minds. In Romans 12:2 Paul wrote, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (yield-ed-ness), so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Mind renewal results in transformation, the increasing conformation of our attitudes and actions to Christ.
Here is the way Paul told it to the saints in Ephesus.
Ephesians 4:17–24 (Italics in parentheses mine)
17 So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles (here meaning unbelievers) also walk, in the futility of their minds,
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; (they have not received the new soft loving heart you have)
19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. (greediness for more)
Now let’s pay close attention. This is not how we learned Christ.
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22 that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23 and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Many read this passage and think there is something we need to do on an ongoing basis to keep ourselves pure, but that isn’t what the Spirit is saying through Paul here at all. He is saying that these are the things we were taught and that resulted in our salvation. These are things that became true of us when we placed our faith in Jesus. Since these things are true, how can we go on living a lifestyle characterized by sin? The answer is that we can’t. We can’t because such behavior no longer fits who we are in Christ.
Jesus said Matthew 11:28–30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”
Then He did everything necessary for you to become righteous, holy, blameless, and accepted by God. No further performance by you is necessary. Instead, we are called to rest in Him, to yield to Him, to live by faith in Him depending on Him as our source.
Don’t worry that you aren’t doing enough. Do what comes along for you to do and know that it is the Spirit within you who is leading you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. You live in Him and He lives in you all the time. That’s an easy yoke. That’s a light burden.
Grace and peace to you.
Larry
LarryEiss.com
Subscribe for free daily encouragement
The Spirit of God who lives in us is producing fruit. Galatians 5:22–24 details it this way, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
It is Holy Spirit who produces this fruit. That’s why it is called the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruit of our best efforts. Notice here also however, this very important point. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
This is too important to miss. You do not want to think and act in ungodly ways. Your true heart’s desire is godliness. How can you know that? You belong to Jesus and scripture says that you have crucified fleshly passions and desires. Whatever is crucified is well and truly dead, and we are told this happened in the past—you have crucified—past tense those passions and desires.
Still, we all find ourselves behaving badly from time to time. From this, it appears that something is amiss. We have been made righteous. That’s who we are, but we still have a soul, our mind, will, and emotions. The change that’s needed is in our minds. In Romans 12:2 Paul wrote, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (yield-ed-ness), so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Mind renewal results in transformation, the increasing conformation of our attitudes and actions to Christ.
Here is the way Paul told it to the saints in Ephesus.
Ephesians 4:17–24 (Italics in parentheses mine)
17 So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles (here meaning unbelievers) also walk, in the futility of their minds,
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; (they have not received the new soft loving heart you have)
19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. (greediness for more)
Now let’s pay close attention. This is not how we learned Christ.
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22 that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23 and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Many read this passage and think there is something we need to do on an ongoing basis to keep ourselves pure, but that isn’t what the Spirit is saying through Paul here at all. He is saying that these are the things we were taught and that resulted in our salvation. These are things that became true of us when we placed our faith in Jesus. Since these things are true, how can we go on living a lifestyle characterized by sin? The answer is that we can’t. We can’t because such behavior no longer fits who we are in Christ.
Jesus said Matthew 11:28–30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”
Then He did everything necessary for you to become righteous, holy, blameless, and accepted by God. No further performance by you is necessary. Instead, we are called to rest in Him, to yield to Him, to live by faith in Him depending on Him as our source.
Don’t worry that you aren’t doing enough. Do what comes along for you to do and know that it is the Spirit within you who is leading you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. You live in Him and He lives in you all the time. That’s an easy yoke. That’s a light burden.
Grace and peace to you.
Larry
LarryEiss.com
Subscribe for free daily encouragement
