Paul: to the Galatians
My counsel is this:
Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit.
Live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit.
Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness.
Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
The sinful nature loves to do evil,
which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants.
And the Spirit gives us desires
that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires.
For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us
that is at odds with a free spirit,
just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness.
These two ways of life are antithetical,
so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way,
according to how you feel on any given day.
Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit?
And so, escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
These two forces are constantly fighting against each other,
and your choices are never free from this conflict.
It is obvious what kind of life develops
out of trying to get your own way all the time:
repetitive, loveless, cheap sex;
a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage;
frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness;
trinket gods;
magic-show religion;
paranoid loneliness;
cutthroat competition;
all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants;
a brutal temper;
an impotence to love or be loved;
divided homes and divided lives;
small-minded and lopsided pursuits;
the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival;
uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions;
ugly parodies of community.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature,
your lives will produce these evil results:
sexual immorality,
impure thoughts,
eagerness for lustful pleasure,
idolatry,
hostility,
quarreling,
jealousy,
outbursts of anger,
selfish ambition,
divisions,
and other kinds of sin.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know.
If you use your freedom this way,
you will not inherit God's kingdom.
But what happens when we live God's way?
What happens when the Holy Spirit controls our lives?
He brings gifts into our lives,
much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard:
things like affection for others,
exuberance about life,
serenity.
We develop a willingness to stick with things,
a sense of compassion in the heart,
and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.
We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments,
not needing to force our way in life,
able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
He produces in our lives:
love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
and self-control.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus
have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross
and crucified them there.
If we are living now by the Holy Spirit,
let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
Let us not become conceited or irritate one another,
or be jealous of one another.
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen,
the life of the Spirit,
let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads
or a sentiment in our hearts,
but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.
That means we will not compare ourselves with each other
as if one of us were better and another worse.
We have far more interesting things to do with our lives.
Each of us is an original.
Make a careful exploration of who you are
and the work you have been given,
and then sink yourself into that.
Don't be impressed with yourself.
Don't compare yourself with others.
Each of you must take responsibility
for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
Don't be misled:
No one makes a fool of God.
What a person plants, he will harvest.
The person who plants selfishness,
ignoring the needs of others - ignoring God!-
harvests a crop of weeds.
All he'll have to show for his life is weeds!
But the one who plants in response to God,
letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him,
harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.
So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good.
At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit.
Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance,
let us work for the benefit of all,
starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.
For my part, I am going to boast about nothing
but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ.
Because of that Cross,
I have been crucified in relation to the world,
set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others
and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate.
Can't you see the central issue in all this?
It is not what you and I do.
It is what God is doing,
and he is creating something totally new,
a free life!
What counts is whether we really have been changed
into new and different people.
May God’s mercy and peace be upon all those who live by this principle.
They are the new people of God!
~a combination of NLT and MSG translations~
posted by Jennifer @ 11:55 PM
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