Fruit of the Self Life – Fruit Pt 2
Scripture: Galatians 5:16-26 (Click Link)
19 The cravings of the self-life are obvious: Sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography, 20 chasing after things instead of God, manipulating others, hatred of those who get in your way, senseless arguments, resentment when others are favored, temper tantrums, angry quarrels, only thinking of yourself, being in love with your own opinions, 21 being envious of the blessings of others, murder, uncontrolled addictions, wild parties, and all other similar behavior. Haven’t I already warned you that those who use their “freedom” for these things will not inherit the kingdom realm of God! (Galatians 5:19-21 TPT)
There’s a battle going on! It’s inside us! It’s a battle for control of our thoughts, words, and actions. It’s a battle between our self-life and our spirit-life. When we respond to the Holy Spirit we think, speak, and act like Jesus and our lives bear good fruit. When we respond to the old self-life and its desires, these are some of the things that grow in us and flow out of us: (Spoiler alert – These are not good things!)
- Expressions of our selfish desires for pleasure: Sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography, uncontrolled addictions, wild parties.
- Expressions of our selfish desires for material things: Chasing after things instead of God, being envious of the blessings of others.
- Expressions of our selfish desire to control: Manipulating others, hatred of those who get in your way, senseless arguments, angry quarrels.
- Expressions of our selfish ego: Only thinking of yourself, being in love with your own opinions, resentment when others are favored, temper tantrums.
- And murder? Yes, Murder!
Dear friends, that’s not the path God has prepared for us, and it’s not the path we want to follow. These expressions of the self-life are harmful to ourselves, they are harmful to others, and they undercut the purpose for which God has redeemed us and given us his Holy Spirit. The truth is, the self-life desires these things and craves control over our thoughts, words, and actions so that we find ourselves enslaved to this kind of behavior or enslaved to the bondage of making and trying to keep rules to prevent ourselves from living this way! God has a way to free us from the demands of the self-life and soar above it into the Spirit-life! Let’s learn how that can happen!
Prayer:
Father, Thank you for your Holy Spirit, who lives within us and desires to give us freedom! Show us how to respond to your Spirit and live free from the bondage to the Selfish Self life! In Jesus’ Name.