Keeping in Step?

My husband is taller than I am and has longer legs. He also walks with longer strides than most people. Because of that, I cannot keep up to him matching strides. He usually remembers to slow down or take shorter steps — after years of listening to me telling him he is going too fast.

The Holy Spirit asks me to walk with Him too, but His request is not usually about speed or length of strides. Instead, it is about the way I act along the path. He says . . .

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

First, He lists works of the flesh: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” warning that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Stay away from all that.

Next, He lists the fruit of the Spirit, that is, the actions and attitudes I need to match as I walk with Him. They are: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and against such things there is no law.”

Finally, He adds in two more positive qualities and three more works of the flesh: “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:16–26)

This makes it easy to know whether I’m walking in the Spirit, sort of. It gets complicated because the fruit of the Spirit is not for me but for others. If I start examining myself for fruitfulness, the flesh can quickly take advantage and I become self-focused, which is NOT a spiritual fruit.

It is easier to let the first list of fleshy works be a warning that I’m out of step. If I’m even thinking that stuff, I need to talk to the Lord and get back on track with Him.

A Christian writer once said that when she tries to be like Jesus, self becomes more evident, but when she is just ‘herself’ people say they see Jesus in her. This is key. The person who walks with the Holy Spirit is not thinking about or trying to promote themselves or anything personal. They are transparent and carefree. Jesus can be seen in them. The person who walks in the flesh is trying to promote themselves (even if it is to be ‘more spiritual’) and that hides Jesus.

I’m trying to make sense. Walking with the Spirit is something the Spirit does in me. When I try to do it, “I” become the focus and begin walking in the desires of the flesh.

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, from experience and from Your instruction, I know what this involves, but it is difficult to explain. I know I’m to live like a child, carefree and not self-conscious. I also know that as soon as I or someone else points out that I am doing it right, I usually take my eyes off You, become full of care or pride about what I am doing. Thank You for setting me free instead, free to be who You created me to be!

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

Now alive . . .

Devious. Not all the time, but sometimes even a small child with determination to have what he wants becomes devious in his efforts. No matter how often or how strongly he hears the word NO, he calculates how he can have that toy or that candy. Maybe by being sweet. Maybe by raising a ruckus. Maybe some sort of distraction, but the deviousness can be seen in his eyes. He is not going to give up easily.

Try that with God? I should know better by now. It does not work. God is Lord of all and no matter my efforts to cajole, persuade, beg or bargain, I can no longer get what I want simply because I want it. If the thing is in my best interests, He is generous. Otherwise, He knows how to deal with this spoiled child and all my self-effort . . .

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Why He takes drastic measures is obvious; sin has spoiled us all. But what does it mean to be crucified with Christ? Some analogies help me get the gist of it. One is that I was ‘in’ my grandfather’s loins before I was born so in a sense, whatever happened to him was also part of my future. That is, if he lived, I would live. If he died, I would die with him.

It is the same with Christ. God put me in Christ so that when He died, I died. Sounds grim, but then He didn’t stay dead. The resurrection is the jewel of the Gospel, the shining light, the hope of all who believe. Because Jesus rose from the dead and because I am ‘in’ Him, then I also have new life! And I’m not to forget it . . .

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1–4)

My destiny is summed up in these four verses. I died with Christ and am raised with Christ, exhorted to put my mind on eternal matters, remembering that the old me is dead and my life is ‘in’ Christ. Whatever happens to Him happens to me — and He is eternally alive and planning to return. He will transport all His people home to glory with Him.

Crucified? It is a done deal. I died in Christ and am raised to new life with Him. No matter what I do, I cannot change that. God did it, not me nor my actions or failures to act. Instead of trying to walk a different path, I can take His hand, turning away from life’s passing interests and temptations and whole-heartedly walk with Him.

^^^^^^^^

Jesus, sometimes the good news is so overwhelmingly joyful that my heart feels full to bursting. Thank You for including me in Your grand plan of salvation. Thank You that I can set my mind on things above. Thank You also that the things of this earth have lost most of their luster, not that they are fading but that such stuff has no appeal to a dead person!

Barely holding on?

The story goes that a man fell off the top of a cliff. On the way down, he grabbed a tree root and hung on, but he knew the root would not hold him for long. Several times he cried out, “Is there anyone up there?” Silence. Finally a voice came to him, “This is God. I am here. I will help you — but first you have to let go of that root.” Silence. Then the man called out, “Is there anyone else up there?”

My chuckle is mixed with sorrow. Why is trusting God such a challenge? Is it ignorance of His power? Or is it too much trust in other things — like tree roots? Or my own thoughts and ideas? Or other people? Or my money? Or?

In contrast, today’s Scripture describes the cries of a man who feels as if God has dropped off a cliff. He feels alone, forsaken, unheard . . .

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.” (Psalm 22:1–5)

He calls out over the edge day and night. He groans. He reminds God that He helped those people of faith who lived prior to his life and He rescued them. Why is he being ignored? Where is God and why is He deaf to his cries?

This psalm is likely what was on the mind of Jesus as He hung on the cross. It was a Jewish practice to recite it when feeling abandoned for it ends well, reminding desperate hearts that God is still there with them. All of us need something to cling to besides tree roots when in dire straits. The promises of God are anchors when the experiences of life are totally painful and we feel alone and deeply needy.

Right now, this is not my situation. Why then should I read and contemplate anything about such grief and negativity? As a younger woman, God taught me the logic of doing this. I suffered greatly with PMS for several years. My personality changed and I hated myself. My family was not too happy with me either. Then the Lord gave me an idea: take note of everything I screamed and complained about during PMS, then deal with it when the PMS was gone and I was thinking rationally. It worked. Gradually all those issues were resolved and dissolved.

It is the same with those low times of life. If I consider the promises of God for times of trouble when I’m not in trouble, then whenever loss or disaster strikes those promises are already planted in my heart. Of course I might forget them for a time or feel abandoned for a time, but the reality of His care for me inevitably comes to mind and I can let go of tree roots and terror and self-despair (self-pity too) as His reassurance calls out to me.

Tozer notes that sometimes falling off a cliff is about the Holy Spirit putting an end to self-rule. He is teaching me greater faith by testing, and His ‘expulsive power’ requires that I let go of all else that I trust. He accepted me as I was but loves me too much to leave me that way.

^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, in Your darkest hour You entrusted Your Father even though it felt like He had forsaken You. But You knew He was still there. In the last part of Psalm 22, which You did not get to utter but certainly knew, it says:

“For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.” (Psalm 22:24)

Our human problem is not that You have abandoned us but that we are prone to trusting tree roots rather than our Creator and the Author of life.