In this daily Bible reading Paul tells the Galatian church that their freedom from the Law given them through their belief in Jesus Christ does not give them a license to indulge in ‘the flesh.’ It does not give them a license to sin. Paul says, “The flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.”
If one truly walks ‘according to the spirit’ by their belief in Jesus, then the Holy Spirit of God indwells them. They are given the fruits of the Holy Spirit: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.’ If one truly possesses these gifts then he or she will not pursue the desires of the flesh. Living according to the flesh will not characterize them. However, the struggle between the flesh and the spirit will continue in us even though we believe in Jesus.
On occasion we may give in to the flesh and commit sin. However, the sin will not characterize us if we continue to struggle and fight against sinning. Our response to committing sin must be to recognize it as sin and truly be sorry for committing the sin. Our fleshly side may try to justify the sin. However, we must be able to identify sin as sin through the Word of God, the Bible.
The Bible is our only Truth, and it is our only guidance to walk correctly before God. The Bible says the Word of God is the ’belt of truth.’ It is also the ‘sword of the spirit,’ and it is essential to standing against the evil that surrounds us in this world.
