Galatians
3:23-5:6 - ‘God
has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts’ (4:6). The Spirit is
not a reward we earn by being good people. The Spirit is God’s gift
(Titus 3:5). Paul connects the gift of the Spirit with Christ’s death for us and our faith in Christ
(3:13-14). We do not come to God with our religion in one hand and our
morality in the other, insisting that we deserve to be blessed by Him.
We look away from ourselves to Christ - ‘Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to Thy Cross I cling’ (Church Hymnary, 83). All pride in
ourselves must be brought to Christ’s Cross as we humbly pray, ‘Spirit
of the living God, fall afresh on me, break me, melt me, mould me, fill
me’ (Mission Praise, 613). God has given His Spirit to us. Let’s give ourselves to Him - to ‘be filled with the Spirit’ (Ephesians 5:18).
5:7-6:18 - What
are we praying for when we ask God to fill us with His Spirit? We are
praying ‘for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control’. This is ‘the fruit of the
Spirit’ (22-23). How are we to be filled with the Spirit? How does the
fruit of the Spirit grow in our lives? We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus,
saying in our hearts, ‘God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world’ (6:14). ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His
wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the
light of His glory and grace’ (Mission Praise, 712). Looking to Him, let’s concentrate on the one thing that really matters - living as ‘a new creation’ (6:15).
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