Tag: Results

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Power over ourselves.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.” Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Earlier in this chapter, the Apostle Paul writes about freedom. Freedom from, but just as important, freedom to. When Paul teaches the Church about sin, he digs deeply into the causes, the origins of our sin. Paul uses words like satisfy, nature and desires. These are evidences of urges and cravings from within!

Paul then moves from talking about freedoms from sin to having power over our sin. The key; the power of the Holy Spirit! Not just letting the Holy Spirit take control, but gaining the edge over disordered desires that plague our lives. Paul also gives us the results of these bent desires. Think about this, these are desires that drag us down, yet we not only want to see them as helpful, but we actually believe they will give us a better life, tricking us into thinking they can fulfill us! The summary – that’s all a lie!

Paul writes the truth of where our own cravings and desires take us. Paul writes, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these” (Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭19‬-‭21‬). Some might say, “well that sounds like a regular weekend experience for me!”When we feel these intense influences coming from within our heart, we blindly hope that we can avoid the effects of our decisions – hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, and envy! Our lives, as well as our relationships get WORSE, not better. And, the more we feed our flesh or old-man/old-ways, with these disordered cravings and desires, the more these stubborn cycles and traps of addiction turn us into mental-health pretzels, taking over our life! God warns us against giving into sin, not just because it’s wrong, but also because it is absolutely destructive to us and those around us.

Here’s the craziest part of all – our conscience tells us we’re wrong. This God-given early warning system starts screaming in our head, and we just override it! Continually and consistently ignoring the siren in our soul leads to coldness and lack of sensitivity in our heart. At first we want to act out these desire in secret, hiding and ducking any chance of attracting the attention of a spotlight shining the truth. But at some point the light no longer bothers us! Guilt becomes ineffective and eventually we want to join with others of likeminded, bent and broken desires to completely dull any possibility of stopping our pursuit of doing whatever it is we want. It is quite easy to justify anything at this point.

We’ve joined a tribe of those who have not only chosen similar desires, but for the sake of solidarity, they celebrate them! No matter how innocent the beginning, no matter how one found themselves opening the door to these deadly sins, there is no way to stop them until they have destroyed our entire life. The choice becomes put them to death by the power of the Holy Spirit, burying them with Christ’s mercy and grace OR let them drag our soul through the living hell of consequences that are inescapable. Even with the forgiveness and power to kill our disordered desires, God never promises that we can sneak away from the consequences. Continuing in bad behavior and continuing to do so with a bad company of friends will 100% yield horrible results – it is just a matter of time. You know this is true! We all know this is true.

Prayer

Dad,
There is regular suffering that everyone eventually goes through. Then there is godly suffering, endured because of living Your truth, which is hard, but brings such amazing fruit. But finally, there is suffering because of sin, and selfishly making bad decisions that yield awful consequences and results. All are painful. But our own actions, weakly justified, leaves us with unimaginable pain because we actually thought we could get away with it. But oh what joy and freedom in confession, repentance and acceptance as well as the consequences when the Holy Spirit moves in with power to resist, heal and overcome! Help us drag our sins and desires out into the light and allow you to both free us and give us power to live like Jesus.

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Who labors for bitter fruit?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter. ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Isaiah poetically writes in object-lesson clarity. He writes of this song about a beautiful vineyard and all the sweat equity he devotes in making into a sweet return on investment. He finds it, builds it, works it and waits.

But instead of reaping the sweet rewards of a job well done, he finds soured results! What happened? Where did he go wrong? The land was rich and fertile. It was cleared of stones. He chose to plant pristine vines from the finest in the area. He provided security with a stone wall and a guard tower to keep it clear of opportunistic pests. What could have gone wrong?

Isaiah notes in this story that the neighbors begin to judge the farmer – there must have been something he did wrong, something he missed. He admits, go ahead and judge me, saying “What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?” After all the planning, all the work, all the investment he must admit the facts – something was amiss, the soil, the weather? It does not matter – it was a total loss. So the farmer does a deconstruction of everything he built. He tears down the hedges, breaks down the protective walls, and lets it go wild! Now thorns and thistles grow in its place.

What a sad story about this beloved vineyard, as his love song turns to a dirge. Isaiah brings it home with a stinging application. The vineyard, the beautiful garden is none other than Jerusalem and Judah – God’s own people. Isaiah tells the religious and political leaders that God planted a pristine crop expecting good, sweet results, but got something different, “He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence” (‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬).

Bitter fruit is nasty enough on its own, but when one has worked so hard to plant sweet, healthy vines and gets bad. Well it’s even more egregious! Not to Jesus’ juke us here, but we are so valuable to God, that He gave us His son to live, die and resurrect for our broken lives, our bitter results. While we were yet sinners… (sour, nasty tasting fruit) Christ died for us.

Prayer

Dad,
Wow! Isaiah’s poetic punch is so apropos to our current state of humanity. So much has gone into making us into something that could produce the sweetness of your love, grace and mercy, but our own sin has soured the end results. Even from my perspective of the work that goes into a project to produce good and it makes something bad, is apparent and frustrating. You have done everything to give me the ability to make sweet fruit, and I recognize that I do things that turn my own field (my life) sour! Forgive me. Help me to produce good works, good fruit, even eternal fruit for you. Amen.