Choosing Gods Best

   Pastor Fred got back into the book of Galatians by preaching out of 5:13-26. One of the thrust of the book is the freedom that we have in Christ and we not only should live in that freedom but we shouldn’t abuse that freedom. One of those freedoms we have is how we treat others and we can love others as Christ loved us through His power. How often do we abuse that freedom and command by tearing others down. One of the criticisms that the world has of the church is that we tend to devour our own. So my question is would we rather help raise people up or bring and to encourage them, or bring them down and continuously kick them while they are down?

  One of the things I was thinking about as I was working tonight is that often we think that true freedom is being able to what we want when we want to do it. How many of us when we were kids couldn’t wait to get out of our parents house so we could do what we wanted when we wanted? In the end and after some time, along with some maturity, we realize that are parents just may have been right. True freedom is having boundaries and living in the protection of those boundaries. When we don’t, sin takes over and we become like a dog returning to its vomit. No matter how hard we try not to, we still end up at the vomit pile. 

  One of the points of the passage is how we struggle with our flesh which is better known as our sinful nature. How often do we obey our sinful nature rather than God? If you have seen the movie The Dark Knight, and it is a battle between Batman and the Joker. I see the Joker represents our sinful nature, and just as the Jokers whose whole identity too cause chaos and destruction. Sin does the same thing, because it adds chaos and destruction into our lives and those who are close to us. It often leads us to ask the Jokers famous question of “why so serious?”

  This chapter is known for the Fruits of the Spirit and we can’t fully embrace those fruits, we need to deal with our sinful nature first. The first thing we need to do is do some self examination and see where we sit in relation to God. Do we let our anger, lust, apathy or any number of other things run and ruin or lives. Once we become sick and tired of being sick and tired, it’s asking God to not only renew us, but change us. One we start dealing with our sin, we need to find something to replace it, or something else is going to take its place. How many people do you know who quirt smoking and they gained weight. They needed something to do with their hands and to deal with their cravings, so they switched from cigarettes to goof. It’s switching one bad habit for another. This is where the Fruits of the Spirit come in, because we are replacing our sinful nature with Gods Holiness and character. The chief fruit is love in my book, because that is how God operates and it is the basis for all other fruits. We have peace, patience and the other fruits because we love God with all we have and others as ourselves. So how well do we not only love, but sacrificially love. So how can we learn to choose Gods best and do it?

  Christianity is the only activity or even religion that one succeeds by surrendering. There can be a mindset that we have to earn our salvation or we have to control our own destiny. Now we do have some responsibilities, but we have to give up our way of seeing and doing things. We either go down that path of self destruction and we burn out, or we don’t see and participate in the bigger picture. I am sorry, but Frank Sinatra is wrong and we can’t do things our way. To close out, it is reminding ourselves and putting into practice the Lord’s Prayer of Gods of Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Or as Bob Sheen likes to tell the youth during Breakfast Club, it’s not about choosing our best and doing it but it is choosing Gods best for us and living it out. I essence when we choose our best we tend to fall flat on our faces and get ourselves in compromising situations? 

Grace and Peace,

Tom Boustead