IMO: You Can Fix Yourself - Friday
Galatians 5:22-23a
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (NLT)
If you’re a country fan, you’ve surely heard of John Michael Montgomery’s 1992 hit, “Life’s ‘A Dance.” Such a classic. For those of you sad souls who don’t enjoy country music, allow me to educate you on the chorus lyrics: “Life's a dance, you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. Don't worry about what you don't know. Life's a dance, you learn as you go.”
If I could rewrite those lyrics for our topic this week, they’d go something like this: Following the Spirit is a dance, you learn as you go. But He’ll always lead, you just need to follow. Don't worry about what you don't know. Following the Spirit is a dance, you learn as you go.
Okay, thank you for humoring me and my lack of songwriting ability—I’ll stick to devos from here on out. Fortunately, Neil T. Anderson articulates what I’m trying to say much better in his book Victory Over the Darkness: “How do we walk by the Spirit? If I answered that question by offering three steps and a formula, I would be putting you back under the law again. The Holy Spirit is a He to whom we relate as our divine guide, not an it that can be boxed and quantified. We are talking about walking with God, which is a Father-and-son relationship” (p. 91).
Just like any other relationship, our individual relationship with the Spirit is unique. It will grow and look different over different seasons. And pursuing it well requires time, effort, communication, and submission. There will be joy and pain, struggle and grace. And while there’s no exact formula, today’s verse does tell us the result of this dance of daily surrender to the Spirit of life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And that, my friends, is what it means to live in freedom.
Friday’s Reflection
Who in your life clearly exhibits this fruit of the Spirit? Set up a time to talk with them about their unique journey with the Lord and how they’ve learned to walk in step with Him. Your journey doesn’t have to look exactly like theirs, but there’s always wisdom to glean from someone who’s been “dancing” a little longer than you.
