As we continue our journey of learning to “Walk in the Spirit,” we must remind ourselves to daily inspect our lives. I remember as a kid growing up I faced a daily inspection of our room. Now, realize that in our house the room inspection was rather simple…did you make your bed, and are all of your clothes put away? There were not very many days when I failed the inspection. So let’s get back to “Walking in the Spirit”—in the Bible we find many measurements that can be used to help us know if we are truly walking in the Spirit. Those include items in life that we are to avoid, characteristics that should be increasing in our lives on a daily basis, and gifts that will be operating through us as we walk down the path God has established for us. Each of these things is measurable, but do we take the time to evaluate them?
Last weekend it was beautiful here in Texas. I decided that it was a good day to clean the garage because through the winter a lot of leaves had blown into it, a lot of dirt had been brought in from our cars, and it was just a mess. So, seeing the mess, I realized that I had to get to work to put the garage back in order. I moved out the cars, began throwing out items that were no longer of any value, and finished up by hosing out the garage. When I finished, I was able to look into the garage and evaluate the great change that had taken place. Everything looked awesome, except for one thing I did wrong. As I was backing out, one of the cars hit one of our bike tires and turned it hard into the wall. No damage was done to the bike or the car wheel, but the tire knocked a hole in our garage drywall. Guess they just don’t make drywall as tough as they used to. I was frustrated that it happened, but it happened without any warning and I knew it wouldn’t be a difficult repair.
The same happens in life as I’m on this journey of Walking in the Spirit. I can go through a day, then look back and see all the wonderful, positive results of being obedient to the Holy Spirit’s direction in my life. But every so often there’s the one glaring thing I did out of step because I took the easy way, and I see the hole left as a result of doing it my way rather than God’s way. Now, the good news is that the hole can easily be repaired, but the bigger question is this: will I just ignore it, thinking it doesn’t matter? Ask me in a month if I fixed the hole in my garage. I want to ask you: are you fixing the holes revealed to you by the Holy Spirit in your journey of “Walking in the Spirit”?
“Walking in the Spirit” sounds like such an easy thing to do, and even when you read Galatians 5:22-23 you can tend to think, “I’ve got it covered!” And there are probably many days that we can feel this way, but then along comes the day—you know the one—when everything that God is trying to teach you is put to a challenge. It doesn’t matter who you are or how strong you may be in your faith, there are going to be days that test you. And the thing that is most important is not the test but how you respond to the test. I know through the years I’ve had times when I can say I handled the testing in a way very pleasing to the Lord, and then there are the times when I can tell you that I failed miserably at the test the Lord placed in my path. Most of the time I don’t need anyone to tell me how I’ve done, because I know by how the Holy Spirit speaks to my heart, but there are also times when I’ve had to lean on the Godly wisdom of those he’s brought into my life to help me see things I may not have seen or sensed.
I’ll never forget when I was in third grade and went through a situation at school that brought this truth to light. I had an English class, and once a month we were required to memorize a poem and then recite it in front of the class. I found a poem and worked so hard to memorize it, and the teacher gave me an excellent grade because I followed her instructions to learn and share it with the class. The next month flew by, and soon it was my turn to get up and recite my poem. I stood in front of the class and flawlessly recited the poem I’d memorized. When class finished that day, the teacher asked to see me. I stayed around, and when she spoke with me it was soft and loving but also honest. She said, “John, that’s the same poem you recited last month.” She was correct; you see, I had forgotten about the assignment and in a panic thought she’d never know if I simply did the same one again. She went on to inform me that I’d be given a zero for not completing the assignment and would hopefully learn a lesson. Now, I could have walked out saying, “That’s not fair, I did the assignment and was never told I couldn’t use the same poem.” But instead, I knew deep inside that what I did was wrong and I tried to cheat my way to a grade I didn’t deserve.
“Walking in the Spirit” means being sensitive enough to the voice of God that when God affirms us in the positive we receive it and rejoice in doing what is pleasing to the Holy Spirit. It also means that when the Holy Spirit convicts us then we humble ourselves, confess our sins, and get back on track with the plan that God has for us.
Over the past few weeks we have been experiencing a lot of changes in our weather. As winter draws to a close and spring quickly approaches, we have those days when it’s in the 80s, like yesterday, but then we can turn around and have a day in the 40s. I personally don’t like the change because I want a consistent pattern every day—preferably in the 80s every day. Yet I know that for plants, grass, and trees to grow properly, they have to go through the various seasons to help them recover from hard years and get the necessary moisture for the summer to come.
In much the same way, I prefer to have a life that is in the perfect temperature range. Little problems and stress, being loved by everyone, and everything I do prospering. Yet I know that this is unrealistic and not God’s plan for my life. God wants to produce in us growth, and to do that we need to go through uncomfortable times in our lives. That involves such things as hearing a message or lesson that I may not like, restoring relationships with people I may not like, weathering storms of life that I may not like, but understanding that each of them produces results that will lead me closer to God.
Jesus Christ stayed the course knowing that the ultimate sacrifice would result in the ultimate prize….our salvation. The things you go through in life, based on how you choose to react to them, will make an impact on others around you in a positive or negative way for the Gospel message we proclaim. Don’t let your reaction to the changes affect others in a negative way.
