Galatians 5:16-26
Verse 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
Knowing we don’t want to be known as hypocrites we need to be intentional about what we are saying and doing. Remember the Holy Spirit is given to be our helper so we need to lean into Him to know how we are to be living. It isn’t our nature to be living a holy life, being born into sin means we are more likely to sin than we are to live uprightly.
This is why we have to fight against being hypocrites, the flesh wants to do what would make the flesh happy from eating more cookies than we should, or sleeping in longer than we should, to not feeling like going to church on Sunday and everything in between. We know better than to give in to any of those desires but we all know the fight we face in those moments. And there are things we know we should do but they can be hard to do because they aren’t really what we want to do.
The Holy Spirit was given as a helper, not as an enforcer. He knows what we should do but He won’t make us do it. To live as the Spirit would have us live, we need to listen to Him and obey what He says, every time! The list Paul gave to the Galatians shows how we can tell if we are living according to His work in our lives or if we are giving into our own desires.
With this fight going on inside of us it is good for us to keep the two lists from this passage in our minds so we can see which list we are living by. When we are surrendered to the Holy Spirit we will not be as willing to live by the flesh but if we are surrendered to the flesh we will not be hearing the Spirit’s voice and obeying Him.
Notice the last sentence of the key verse says the conflict has purpose in our lives. In fact, there being fighting in us shows we are no longer under the complete control of the flash. We know what we are supposed to do and the fight is really about choosing God or choosing ourselves. We become hypocrites when we choose ourselves instead of listening to the encouragement from the Holy Spirit to live as God has called us to.
Making It Personal
How often do you feel the fight within you? How do you respond to the fight? Do your choices allow others to see you as a hypocrite?
Making It Personal Kids
Do you ever feel like there is a fight going on inside you about doing right or wrong? How easy is it to choose to do right? What could make you want to choose to do right?
Closing Prayer
Father, we repent of the times we haven’t chosen Your way over our own. Give us hearts which want to obey You each and every time. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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