Greetings,
Making a difference outside the Church means first making a difference inside the Church. One follows the other.
If we function in our daily lives—with the same mind—as everyone else, then we have nothing to offer the world. God had presented mankind with a choice: the way of the Spirit and the way of the flesh.
Paul writes in Galatians 5:17: “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” The two approaches to life are in opposition to one another; they are diametrically opposite. It is critical for us to understand the implications of what Paul is saying.
We cannot get to the fruits of the Spirit through the ways of the flesh. We cannot practice the “best” of or the “good” of the flesh and hope to achieve the things of the Spirit. We deceive ourselves if we think that if I am doing well carnally speaking—being good—then I am getting closer to the Spirit or more acceptable to the God.
If I am practicing the ways of the flesh then I am heading in the opposite direction from the mind of God—the things of the Spirit. So even if what I am doing looks good to a reasonable person—even if my logic is sound—if it is not of the Spirit, it is against the Spirit. It moves me away from God. Paul was telling the people in Galatia that there is a way that looks good and sounds good and may even seem consistent with the law of God but it is of the flesh. It is not of God. The Galatians had a do-it-yourself mentality.
This idea can even apply to the preaching of the Gospel. We can create a work that seems to be about God and feels right, but is really not of God. We can get very comfortable individually and collectively doing “good” on our own, without God. Our good—what we feel is right—takes us away from God, not closer to Him.
That is why Paul said in Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” As we examine ourselves our own thinking we must know that our mind—the way of the flesh—cannot be entertained, tolerated, or ignored. It must be put to death.
A do-it-yourself righteousness will not move us in the direction of God. The fruits of the Spirit come from God and if we desire them we must go to the source.
Michael McKinney
