“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” Galatians 5:18
It’s like being on a tour through a new country and you stop to take a closer look at a site you never understood that well but knew was really important. That’s the way I feel about these verses in Galatians. It’s another one of those, “What does that really mean?” verses.
Here’s what I did with this — read Keller’s commentary, then went through it in a real life situation — a squabble I had with my husband last night. (I won’t go into the details today — suffice it to say, our kids got so tired of listening to us go round and round they got up and cleaned the kitchen (it came at the end of dinner.)) At the end of Keller’s quote, I wrote the prayer that came from my reflection on how much God loves me in spite of my faulty attempts to live under the law of pseudo-Saviors. Maybe you’ll want to try it too.
“…’crucifying the flesh’ is really the identification and dismantling of idols. It means to put an end to the ruling and attractive power that idols have in our lives, and thus to destroy their ability to agitate and inflame our thoughts and desires. Verse 24 is about withering sin at the motivational level, rather than simply setting ourselves against sin at the behavioral level. Real changes in our lives cannot proceed without discerning one’s “characteristic flesh,” the particular idols and desires that come from it. We have to ask ourselves not just what we do wrong, but why we do it wrong. We disobey God in order to get something we feel we have to have. That’s an “over-desire,” epithumia. Why do we have to have it? It is because it is a way we are trying to keep “under law.” It is something we have come to believe will authenticate us. To crucify the flesh is to say, “Lord, my heart thinks that I have to have this or I have no value. It is a pseudo-Savior. But that is to forget what I mean to you, as I see in Christ. By your Spirit, I will reflect on your love for me in Him until this thing loses its attractive power over my soul.”
Lord, you love me. You really love me. You love me in my glory. You love me in my sin. You sent your son to die BEFORE I committed all of these sins, and BEFORE I was born into the world as a sinner. You KNOW my heart. You know the sinful nature, and you know the Spirit resides there. You know the Spirit has won this battle. You treat me as a “son,” a child adopted by you, given all the rights (righteousness) and inheritance of Your kingdom. That means you PROVIDE everything I need. I need not fear. I need not worry about my reputation. I need YOU. Loving You is truly the only way to live with freedom and hope.
“Your faith has made you well. Go and sin no more.”
