Keep in Step with the Spirit 8

Romans 3:10-18 offers a pretty strong indictment of mankind. Verse 12 says,  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one.

The scriptures are clear that no human is good. Mark 10:18 [NIV] “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone”.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 [NIV] puts it this way, “Do not quench the Spirit”.

So, staying in step with the Spirit by showing goodness in our lives is kind of a heavy lift. Yet our key scripture requires just that.

Galatians 5:22-23 [NIV] 22 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

An important point in staying in step with the Holy Spirit is that it is not us, not our own natures or by our efforts that we become aligned with the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit in us that makes producing the fruit of the spirit possible. No amount of effort on our own will get us there. Our job, then, is to let the Spirit do its work in and through.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 [NIV] puts it this way, “Do not quench the Spirit”.

The call to produce goodness is where perhaps this is most evident since the scripture clearly says no one is good but God. However, as Galatians 5 makes it clear – it is the fruit of the Spirit we are seeking to produce.

Therefore, it all boils down to this (if I could paraphrase a bit): it all boils down to just letting the Spirit do its work in and through us. Don’t resist it. Don’t quench it. Anything else would be like asking Siri to navigate to an important destination and then completely ignoring her direction or, worse, doing the opposite.

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me in the comments section or any time at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org