The War Within

Another thought that struck me in my overview reading of Galatians, is that we as Christians seem to be living with a type of split personality. We have God's Holy Spirit living within us, and yet we are still living in our sinful bodies. Galatians 5 Tells us that the desires of our sinful nature are evil and in exact contrast to the desires of the Spirit within us. In fact, they are at war within us.

I know this seems to conflict with the idea of freedom. If the Spirit coming into us breeds war within us, how is this freedom? I think freedom comes into play in two ways. First, the Spirit offers us a choice. Before we become Christians we may attempt to do good, but ultimately we continue to do evil. With the Spirit we have choice. We can see the difference between good and evil. We are now equipped with the ability to let God's Spirit workout good through our lives.

Second, I think freedom comes into play as we are able to escape the consequences of bad choices. Living out sinful desires can appear fun and enticing in the moment, but ultimately though sinful desires bring negative consequences. We both reap the ramifications of evil and become addicted to the sin in our lives. It becomes harder and harder to break free from the choices we find ourselves bound too. By turning from our evil desires and allowing the Spirit to produce his fruit through us, we receive freedom from the chains of sin.

After reading Galatians, it seems to me that in many ways we need to work harder at turning away from sin then we do at striving to produce the Spirit's fruit. We need to work hard at binding our sinful nature and choosing not to follow our sinful desires. By giving up that way of life, by losing ourselves, we can allow God's Spirit to work through us. The good news is that the more we turn from our sinful desires, the more we give control of the situations in our lives over to God, the easier it becomes to make this choice again next time.

So when my kids are taking what seems like hours to put on their boots and coats, and I feel the war within me between impatience and anger verse patience and gentleness, I'm reminded that I need to work hard on giving up my impatience. I need to give up my sinful anger that rises within me. I need to ask God for help. I need to give the situation over to the Spirit. I need to let Him work out his fruit through me. And the next time my kids are stalling instead of getting ready to go out, I can give the situation over to God again. And the next time, because trust me this situation happens more than once every day in my life this winter, it will be easier to die to myself and let the Spirit work through me.