My answer to the question: In order to walk in the Spirit, I must choose to think about areas of my life from the perspective of God.
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. (Romans 8:5-7)
If we set our minds on what the Spirit desires, our minds will transform our character and behavior. So what are the desires of the Spirit?
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. (1 Corinthians 2:12-13)
Desire of the Spirit is the truths of God. And a measure of whether we are walking in the Spirit comes from Galatians 5:22 - 26.
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. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
The fruit of Spirit will be visible if I am seeking truth and making choices based on the truths of God. Anytime there are spirits of conceit, provoking or envying I need to examine myself.
By the way the second part of the question is: In your own life, is that what you are striving for?
1 comment:
You said, "In order to walk in the Spirit, I must choose to think about areas of my life from the perspective of God."
Lately I've been wondering if this verse means more than that. What if we don't conform our thoughts to God's thoughts but rather He conforms our thoughts to his?
If you have time, I'd love to hear your thoughts. justinwallraven@gmail.com
The distinction is subtle. However, if walking in the spirit only involved thinking about Godly things, non-Christians could walk in the spirit because they do sometimes think about (and do) things that God says is good.
Of course, non-Christians don't have the Spirit to walk in, but that makes the problem more troubling...if the Lord was telling us to think about Godly things in order to transform our character, what do we say to the non-Christians who is able to be "moral" (not perfect) without the Holy Spirit? I think there are a lot of non-Christians in the world that are able to "white knuckle" character as well as many well meaning Christians...sometimes even better.
I don't think a Christian has any advantage in having the Holy Spirit if he is forced to transform his own thoughts to those of God.
I guess my point is, I wonder if "walking in the Spirit" is more about letting go and letting God transform our character rather than trying to change our thoughts to consciously think "God's thoughts" so that our minds will transform our character?
Post a Comment