Walking in the Spirit
Spiritual growth is a life-long journey of walking in the Spirit to become more like Jesus. Walking in the Spirit leads us to think and act more like Jesus. Let us consider what walking in the Spirit looks like.
Desires of the Spirit
Paul writes in Galatians 5 and 6 that the Spirit places in us desires which are not the same as the fleshly or worldly desires of our life before Christ. The desires we had before coming to faith in Christ were impure and divided us from God. The desires of the Spirit however please the Lord and follow his law and commands.
Not under the law
This same passage of scripture also tells us that we are not under the law (Galatians 5:18). How can it be that we follow his law but are not under it? The presence of the Spirit means that the laws have been written in our hearts, that we delight in the will of God and seek his will in our actions and thoughts. The law does not drive our actions and thoughts, but rather the love of God and our faith in him together with the Spirit in us guides us to do God’s will. The law has no hold over us then.
Spirit life bears fruit
Instead, we find that the presence of the Spirit gives us life which bears fruit. ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ (Gal 5:22-23). Whatever it is we do, whatever it is that the Lord and the Spirit guide us in, we produce this fruit.
Each of us carries out our own work for the Lord, some at home, in schools, government, offices, others in cars, shops, truly anywhere. The physical ‘work’ that we do, is done with the Spirit who guides how we do it.
Walking in the Spirit is a method, not a direction.
The Spirit guides how we do what we do. We do our work with love, with joy, with peace. We do it with patience, kindness, and goodness. We do it with faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All of these characteristics are part of the Spirit and come into us with the Spirit. The word clearly says, ‘the fruit’, not fruits – there is no plural. The fruit comes with all of these characteristics in one.
The Spirit produces fruit in us
There is one fruit which produces these characteristics within us. I appreciate the imagery of the fruit. Fruit comes from a tree, planted in soil. Much as we say that faith is a seed that needs water and grows in time, fruit also matures in time.
It takes time for our fruit of the Spirit also to mature. We must be patient with one another in this maturing. We plant seeds and water them (or drown them or starve them) and wait for the harvest. The sowing we do with the Spirit will yield 30, 60, 90 times anything we could do alone because the Spirit influences us in the way of our lives and toward the goodness of God.
