November 25

Read: Galatians 5:16-25

Let your lives be guided by the Spirit, and then you will not fulfill the cravings of your lower nature (Galatians 5:16, Weymouth).

Walk In The Spirit

Paul was here writing to converts who had all but lost their Christian faith. The Galatians were “removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ” (1:6). The Apostle gives them a formula that will save them from their failure and assure them of spiritual success. That formula is, “Walk in the Spirit.”

“The lust of the flesh” is simply the desire of man’s carnal nature, which is exactly opposite to the leading of the Holy Spirit, Verses 19 to 21 give a catalog of these acts which originate from the lower nature. Verses 22-23 list the attitudes and actions that grow out of living and walking as God requires.

How may I walk in the Spirit? First of all I must renounce the old nature. Paul uses strong language, “Those who belong to Christ have crucified their old nature with all that it loved and lusted for” (5:24, Phillips). When, through Christ, I am done forever with the old nature, I begin to walk in the Spirit.

If I am to walk in the Spirit I must keep myself where He is. I must try to think as He thinks, work for the things that He is interested in, and feel as He feels. As I walk in the Spirit, I do not do the works of the flesh because having crucified the old nature, I no longer want to do these things.

Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart; Come quickly from above; Write Thy new name upon my heart, Thy new, best name of love.

— Wesley’s Hymns