“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:25
Do you remember walking in your daddy’s shoes? I do.
My daddy’s feet were sized in proportion to his heart – both were very large. His shoes, size 14-Wide, seemed enormous to my little sister and me. We would place our little girl feet in his shiny dress shoes and do our best to keep them on as we attempted to take steps, or we would simply give up and sit in one like a tiny, shiny black boat.
We thought it was hilarious to try to shuffle down the hallway wearing those overly big shoes. We would take turns stumbling around until momma made us stop before someone fell and hurt themself or scuffed daddy’s shoes. We never made it very far down the hallway.
There were other times during those little girl days, when daddy would let us take turns standing on his feet, holding onto his legs so that he could walk us all over the house. His size 14W feet made wonderful “walking platforms.” Wherever he stepped, we were right there with him. We loved it! What a sweet and patient daddy.
Those silly memories came back to me as I was reading a passage in Galatians a few days ago – Galatians 5:16-26. If this passage rings familiar with you, it’s likely because it includes the “Fruit of the Spirit” verses (v. 22-24).
Chapter five begins with Paul’s exhortation to the church at Galatia to remain steadfast (stand firm) in the freedom that Jesus purchased for us on the cross. Paul says do not surrender to a “yoke of slavery” – don’t let the flesh (sin) once again become your master (Galatian 5:1). Over the next fifteen verses, he encourages the Galatians to get back on track, run their spiritual race well, serve one another in love, and live in the freedom of Christ.
Sounds easy, right? Not so much.
Thankfully, Paul doesn’t leave the Galatians (or us) hanging with a to do list that they (we) have no possibility of accomplishing if left to their (our) own devices.
Paul lays out the “how to” in the following verses:
- Walk by the Spirit and you will not live to satisfy the flesh (the old nature) v. 16
- Align your heart with the Spirit and your desires will follow – they will be in alignment with the Spirit v. 17
- Be led by the Spirit and instead of displaying the ungodly works of the flesh, the fruit of the Spirit will be displayed in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control v. 22, 23
Paul goes on to say, “those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24)
Crucified. Put to death, no longer alive, dead. The passions and desires of the world have NO power over us. UNLESS we choose to give the power back to the flesh and submit ourselves to it. Yes, as crazy as it sounds, we can reanimate the unholy dead passions and desires. It’s like saying to a corpse, or maybe more appropriately, to an “undead” zombie “yes, I’ll follow you – lead on!”
Totally ridiculous, right? But don’t we do that? I know that I have. Some precious little hidden sin that I resurrect and allow to creep back into my heart and life, until the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit grips my heart. Then I renounce my sin, I repent, and I bury it once again.
How does that happen to me, a Christ-follower, a student of the Word, a lover of God? How do you – a person who has been set free from the power of sin – fall into that trap of reanimating the sin that Christ crucified and put to death when He died on the cross?
When I try to walk the Spirit-filled life WITHOUT relying on God’s Holy Spirit to lead and equip me – when I try to do it all in my own power – it’s no different than when I put on my daddy’s big shoes so that I could pretend that I could walk like him, taking the big steps that he could take. There was no way that my little girl feet could fill a size 14W shoe. It was no wonder I stumbled and bumbled about when I tried to walk.
And there is no way that I can live the Christian life as God intended – free from enslavement by worldly passions and desires, and filled with the fruit of the Spirit, if I try to walk without the power of the Holy Spirit. Without allowing God’s Spirit to lead and do His work in me, I’ll be stumbling and bumbling my way along, fruitless and ensnared by sin.
Here’s the not-so-secret secret – If we want to walk by the Spirit, if we want our hearts and our desires to be aligned with the Holy Spirit, and if we want to be led by the Holy Spirit – we must be walking WITH the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “keep in step with the Spirit.”
“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:24, 25
That phrase “keep in step with the Spirit” is the idea of walking in complete agreement, in total harmony, and in perfect step as a soldier marching in formation. “Lockstep” is a great picture word. Lockstep is marching as closely as possible, to adhere to, and perfectly copy another’s actions. We are to be walking in lockstep with the Holy Spirit. It’s very much like standing on daddy’s feet. When I stood on daddy’s feet, every step that he took was a step that I took as well. Where he went, I went.
Isn’t that what we really want? Each step that we take matching as closely as possible to every step that the Holy Spirit takes. Perfectly aligned in heart and in step.
“…Whoever keeps His Word, in Him truly the love of God is perfected.
By this we may know that we are in Him (Jesus):
whoever says he abides in Him
ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.”
1 John 2:5, 6
Are you walking in lockstep with the Holy Spirit? If not, why not?