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)

Be a Barnabas

The key verses for these devotional readings about the church describe it as a household built on a foundation with Christ as the cornerstone. This structure is joined together in Christ and grows into a holy temple. (Ephesians 2:19–21) One way this happens is through encouragement.

A few years ago, I read a book on this topic. Of hundreds of books I’ve read, this is the only one that when I got to the end, I turned to the front and read it again. What struck me is that people are so afraid of rejection that they build layers around themselves to prevent others from seeing what they are really like. True encouragement gets through those layers by accepting people in unconditional love.  

This kind of love is tied to the Gospel. We are sinners and fall short of the glory of God, yet He loves us and wants our eternal good. Therefore, He sent Jesus to die for our sin. Putting that sin on Christ is one thing, but He also put Christ’s righteousness on all who believe. We are greater sinners than we thought, but more loved than we ever imagined possible.

That kind of love allows me to take off the layers. It doesn’t matter if people accept or reject me because God loves me. He loved me while I was still a sinner (Romans 5:8) and loves me so much that He refuses to leave me in that condition. So He gently peels off the layers and surprisingly, that makes possible this unconditional love to flow through His people.

This was shown at every level in the early church. When Saul/Paul was saved and immediately proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God” those who heard him were amazed because he had severely persecuted Christians. Then, as this man increased in strength and confounded the Jews with the Gospel, they plotted to kill him. He escaped, went to Jerusalem and attempted to join the disciples. But they were afraid of him. However, Barnabas took him under wing and defended him. After that, “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” (Acts 9:19–31)

Barnabas means “son of encouragement” and he lived up to his name. I wonder what the church would have been like had he not encouraged Paul. Would he become fearful and self-protective? Would he fail to become the mighty servant that God used to change the world?

Paul later wrote to those with fears. He said, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:18) He knew the power of looking beyond the surface impressions and encouraging the potential in people. He knew that this takes unconditional love, for sometimes those layers can be thick and even ugly barricades that hide the real person.

My own layers are sinful in that they are a subtle form of hypocrisy. If I am a weak and emotional person who pretends to be strong and stoic, then integrity is gone because the inside and outside do not match. However, God encourages me by accepting my weaknesses, even my quirks and foibles. I don’t need layers and am set free to love others.

Yet I still need encouragement, and so do others. The Bible says we need to “Take care . . .  lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:12–13)

It also tells me to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24–25)

Lord, today give me many opportunities and a strong dose of Your grace that I might be a Barnabas to others.