God’s Hope for Your Heart from Galatians 5
IN CHRIST, GOD WANTS YOU TO DO WHAT YOU WANT
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:16-17)
To be a Christian is to have new desires, deeper than the ones you had before. Central to our understanding of the Gospel is the fact that God gives a new heart to those who are saved by Jesus. With this new heart come new desires that need to be fulfilled.
We don’t have to spend time with God in prayer, we want to. We don’t have to engage with God’s word, we get to. We’re not required to gather with other believers, we rejoice in it because it’s what we truly want to do.
What Satan will do, then, is try to stir up our old desires more strongly, to cover up our new ones and distract us from doing the things we truly want to do.
Don’t let him deceive you!
God has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to help you follow Jesus, and the whole point is not that you would be restricted to duty, but released to delight.
Let the Spirit empower you to pursue your deeper desires in Christ, and as you do, thank God for this liberating truth.
In Christ, God wants you to do what you want.
-Pastor Phillip
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