Living Outloud: Your flesh is showing!

We wrestle with what Christian freedom really means and why Paul ties it directly to serving others in love rather than indulging the flesh. We use Galatians 5 to name the “small” relational sins that can consume a church and to map a better path of Spirit-led growth. 
• freedom in Christ as power to love and serve 
• loving our neighbor as we treat ourselves, including grace, patience, and generosity 
• “biting and devouring” as the overlooked conflict that drains our spiritual life 
• walking by the Spirit as the only way to resist the flesh 
• works of the flesh that feel ordinary, like jealousy, strife, factions, and outbursts of anger 
• fruit of the Spirit as one connected growth, not separate “fruits” 
• practicing spiritual growth as a both-and, our effort alongside God’s work (Philippians 2:12–13) 
• C.S. Lewis’ pencil illustration for how God guides real change 

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Transcript

Why Galatians Gets Practical

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hey, this is Mike and Kelsey here on Living Out Loud. Hi, Kelsey.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hi, Mike.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

This is our end of the week episode where we take a look at what we read earlier in the week on the podcast and talk about how do we actually live this out.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

And this is a good week to do it because Galatians has a ton of practical content, a ton of like, this is how you live it out stuff.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Paul like kind of writes his own living out loud at the end of the letter. He's like, okay, so I've said all this. Now what do we do about it? Which is perfect. We could basically just read the second half of Galatians 5 and the first half of Galatians 6 and call it a day. But since we already read that earlier, let's we'll we'll just talk about it and pull things out here. We're taking a look at Galatians 5. Uh starting like verse 13. Um, the little heading of my translation I'm looking here at the NET, the little, you know, how it kind of has little headings for what this section's about. I find those helpful. This one says practice love. So like this is again very practical. This is like he's been talking about freedom in the whole letter, uh, freedom that Christ's uh sacrifice uh allows us. Like his his the grace of Jesus allows us to live in freedom uh as opposed to slavery from living according to the law, slavery from sin, all these things. And so now what do we do with this freedom? Like what is it?

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Whatever I want, Mike.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Yes and no. Let's talk about that. Um because

Freedom That Serves In Love

SPEAKER_01 1:37

he says in verse 13, you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, but don't use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another. So isn't it isn't it cool that you really can do whatever you want with this freedom that Christ offers? Uh but don't and so yeah, you do have the opportunity, I guess, to go just uh indulge what your flesh wants to do. I guess you're free to do that, but that would be like going back to slavery, right? The thing that he rescued you from. Well, why what a slap in the face that would be. Or you can use your freedom to serve one another in love. Like, and well, is that what I want to do? Well, he can help you make that be what you want to do.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Yeah, my answer of I can do whatever I want to do, Mike, is is a little bit tongue-in-cheek, because obviously there are expectations, there are um there are things we ought to do and things we ought not to do, and that's what that what this chapter really unpacks, even. But I saw a statement on social media recently that that made the claim, and I thought it was just really brilliant, that freedom in Christ means that you really do get to do whatever you want to do, because what you want to do is in line with got what God wants you to do. And if you're living by the Spirit in such a way that you're living in line with what the Holy Spirit wants of you, with what God wants of you, then your desires become aligned with what God wants. And then you get to do whatever you want to do because what you want is what God wants. And that really is true freedom.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, that kind of explains this uh how Jesus does transform you into more like himself, but you don't also lose your personality the more Christ-like you become. He's not turning us all into the same person of him. There's this still this diversity of personality and diversity of desires and diversity of of skills and gifts, and and we don't lose our personality when we surrender our life to him. In fact, we really kind of gain just uh an individuality that is not independent, but just it's look, you have you have desires and they're lined up with his, and and now you want to go demonstrate and practice this love in in various ways. It and this is why Paul sums it up. He's like the whole law. You want to talk about the law? Like, here's the law. Just love your neighbor as yourself. It just comes down to love. Love your neighbor

Love Your Neighbor Like Yourself

SPEAKER_01 4:06

as yourself. Assuming you love yourself, you know, like assuming that you and what does that mean? Like self-love. Yeah. What did I talk about? Self-care, self-care. That's such a a buzzword that's just it's just off enough from biblical truth that it's dangerous. Um it's close, maybe it's close enough to the biblical truth that it's dangerous. Um but it it it's but how do you treat yourself? Honestly, I'm really forgiving of myself. Um not that I you know, not that I don't deal with like maybe some guilt or some shame, but like in the sense of I'm very quick to give myself the benefit of the doubt. I'm very quick to assume that I'm no, I you I I'm right, you just gotta understand it from my perspective. You you gotta hear my heart on this thing. Like, you know, like I I defend myself really well. Um and can I extend that same grace to other people? Or do I assume or I do I judge them by their actions, but I want them to judge me by my heart and my motivations.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Right? That like I I I judge mys you know, you get you just gotta know my motivation. You gotta know why. Like if you understood why I did what I did, then you wouldn't be so upset. But then I just as quickly judge you by what you did or what you said. I and just well, it doesn't matter what your what your heart what you felt like in your heart, it didn't matter why you did it. It's just you you hurt me. Like I love myself so much that I'm willing to give myself the benefit of the doubt.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

In that case, can I can I love others as I love myself?

unknown 5:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

I care, I take care of myself. I eat food every day.

unknown 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

And more than I need to, probably. I'm very generous with myself when it comes to uh feeding myself and and hygiene, taking care of myself, giving myself gifts. Like I can be very generous with myself. Can I love others as I love myself? Can I extend that same generosity to them? I'm patient with myself. Like, all right, I yeah, you know, today wasn't a great day, but you know, I'll go at it tomorrow. But with someone else, it's like, oh, they hurt me today. I'm not gonna forgive them for a while. Like, I'm not gonna forget about that.

unknown 6:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Driving down the road, I'm forgiving of myself when I oh no, I cut that person off. Whoops. Whoops. I'm not that kind of driver. Oops, and then I go about my day. But if someone cuts me off, I'm like, ooh, you are a jerk. Your whole self, your whole personhood crazy driver because you cut me off.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

You are probably on your phone.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

I have no patience for someone else making a one-off mistake. I have a lot of patience for myself making a one-off mistake. So that's that's a good way to put that, Mike.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

So yeah, love your neighbor as yourself. Sometimes we glaze over that, go, oh, yeah, the golden rule. Okay, yeah. Yeah, but do we actually do this? Yeah. And and Paul gives a warning here in verse 15. He says, look, if if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you're not consumed by one another. He's not going for the jugular

Stop Biting And Devouring Others

SPEAKER_01 7:06

of like the sins that we'll see here in in a couple verses, like the easy to recognize and easy to condemn sins of sexual immorality, sorcery, idolatry, like those sort of things. Like, yeah, those are easy to point out and and for the majority of people, easy to avoid. But he's not he's not going after that as an example. He's like, hey, if if but if you bite and devour one another, don't be consumed by one another. And it's it's it's just the it's like the biting. It's like those little biting comments, right? That just like, I I feel hurt, so I'm gonna retaliate with just a a sharp comment that it just takes a bite, you know. And and sometimes devouring one another is like, I'm gonna win this argument. I'm gonna just I'm gonna beat them into submission verbally, you know, like it's and or get my last word in.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Like these little bites and little and I'm gonna turn other people against them so that other people see it from my perspective and think I'm right and they're wrong.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

And yeah, if I can get my perspective across and and what is that except what Paul calls it as they're just being consumed by one another, like spending so much time and energy in these interpersonal conflicts, or as my pastor and I've heard other people call it like these horizontal issues. Like this is horizontal between people, between peers, between so-called friends or former friends, or just people around you that the the this is this is not where our energy should be. This is not what we should be consumed by. We should be filled by the spirit. We should be consumed by the spirit, not by one another. But when our focus is on if we're not loving each other as ourselves, then we find the conflict with between other people. And meanwhile, Satan, who is really causing all the conflict from both ends, gets to just laugh because he doesn't even you don't even recognize what he's doing, and you're just eating each other up.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

And so to avoid that, Paul goes on to say, walk by the spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Ultimately, if my focus is on another flesh body, if my focus and my conflict is between me and another person, flesh bag, I'm I'm just focused on my flesh and their flesh, and I'm really not living by the spirit, if that's where my focus is. And um, even though I'm gonna skip a bunch of verses that we'll go back to, but even though Paul goes and lists a whole lot of um uh work of the flesh that's obvious, and work of the spirit that is good, even if less obvious, um we he ends the chapter in verse 26 saying, So let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Like he starts this chunk with saying, Don't devour and bite one another, and he ends it with saying, Don't be envious, don't provoke one another. Like, even though there's a whole bunch of other sins and a whole bunch of other work

Spirit Versus Flesh Real Tension

SPEAKER_00 10:06

of the flesh listed in this passage, he bookends it with, How are you treating one another? Like Well, this is just to the church in Galatia. Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

This is just specifically to that group of people.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Right. Our chur our local churches here and now where we go on Sunday, they don't have these problems. Nobody's envious or jealous. None no one provokes anybody, no one gives any biting comments. Everybody's living in a kumbaya. Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

That was a first century problem. Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Um, but I just think it's important to see this this bookend before we even go into more of the works of the flesh and the the the fruit of the spirit. Like just the way Paul bookends it should actually show us where our priorities ought to be too. And and even maybe more like the the things that we will tend to overlook or justify um that that are very, very serious to God.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Yeah. Well, you don't know what they said. Well, God does know what they said.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

And he still tells you to And you know what?

SPEAKER_01 11:03

That that may not have pleased him. You know, God God may be God will deal with that too. But your response, your reaction, your you must love your neighbor as yourself is still true.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

And even if they didn't do it to you. If they didn't love you like they love themselves, that doesn't let you off the hook of loving them.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Because we always try to be just a little bit less bad than the other person, right? Like whether we make them out to be worse than us or we you know convince ourselves that what they did is worse than what we did, it w we can we tend to want to feel better by comparing ourselves to what they did or said, and we're more of the victim than they are.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

And again, though, that's like that's this horizontal uh view of life, this uh comparing myself to you as opposed to comparing myself to the holiness of God. If I'm comparing myself to the holiness of God and the perfection of Christ, I'm gonna fall short every single time. And it will make me more humble and it will make me more gracious and it will make me more loving and kind, seeing myself in comparison to Christ's holiness. But if I if my focus is here in the flesh, then I can find all kinds of people I'm better than and I'll feel real good about myself.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Yeah, and so we we find ourselves, even as Christians, even living in the grace of Christ, we still find ourselves fighting the flesh. And it we we just and Paul puts words to this struggle, and and he says, look, look, live by the spirit, verse 16, and you won't carry out the desires of the flesh. Now, can we do that perfectly? I I don't think we can do that perfectly until we are completely uh re restored, you know, and and completely uh healed in our new body and new spirit when when Christ returns. Um but but he's like look, there should not, should not be this both and there should not be this like yes, this, but also that, because the the flesh, he says, that has desires that are opposed to the spirit, and the spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh. For these are in they're in opposition to each other, so that you you can't do what you want. Like we said, like, well, I'll do whatever I want to do. Well, it if if what you want to do is kind of what the flesh wants, well, you can't fully do that as a uh with the spirit inside of you. The spirit inside is you gonna be he's pulling you away from that. But if you want to do what the spirit says, I want to follow Christ's example, I want to do what the spirit says, well then the flesh part of you is like, yeah, yeah, but I don't want to do that. And we find ourselves in this tension that every once in a while our flesh is showing. I I don't know, it was a youth leader or something. I just remember someone in my childhood saying, Your flesh is showing, which is weird, weird to say, but but it kind of gives it what this this sense is is like, oh, your flesh is showing again. Oh no, like uh, gotta be led by the spirit.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

But I think even if we won't be perfect on this side of eternity with this, Galatians 5 is written for a reason, right? Like Galatians 5 is here and it's here to guide us and it's here to teach us and it's here to correct us. So we have to read passages like this and not just say, Well, I'm not gonna be perfect here on this side of the of eternity. Oh well. My flesh is gonna win sometimes. Oh well. Like I just live in this cosmic tug of war, and I'm never gonna win because I'm human.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Right. If that was actually true, that this wouldn't exist.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Right. No, the Lord has given us this passage in Galatians 5 to make us aware of those things that are of the flesh so that we can put them to death and make us aware of those things that are of the spirit so that we can cultivate them and pray for them in ourselves and in others. Like that this is instruction for living. And therefore, we are responsible to take this instruction for living, hold it up as a mirror to ourselves and say, Where am I falling short? What do I need to change? What do I need to pray about? What do I need God's help with? Where am I falling short of the calling God has put on my life? Where am I falling short of the gospel? And and put in the work. Put in the work and put in the effort to change and to grow and to be more like you're living in the spirit and less living by the flesh. I just think that we have that responsibility. Well, that's true. Otherwise, it wouldn't be here.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Yeah, that's that's what Paul says in in I'm gonna jump to verse 24 and 25. Like there's a uh here's what's true statement and then a here's what to do about it statement. The 24 says here's what's true. Now, those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Like that is that is descriptive of the Christian. Like if you're truly following Christ, you've surrendered to him, you're under new management, and your old nature is dead. It's crucified with Christ, and all the fla the flesh and uh all of its passions and desires, that's that's dead. So here's what we do about it. If we live by the Spirit,

Works Of The Flesh Get Personal

SPEAKER_01 16:06

let's also behave in accordance with the spirit. Like that's what we have to do about it. Do we have the freedom to go back to that dead flesh and be like, ah, but I like this? Well, yeah, I guess you do, technically.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

You have free will.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

A dog returns to its vomit, as it says. But um the let's let's behave in accordance with the spirit. Like let's we we can and we have a responsibility and we have a privilege to do that now. And so this section in chapter five, Paul gives kind of two really opposite lists, two contrasting lists. The night nineteen starts with the here's the works of the flesh, and in verse twenty-two, and here's the fruit of the spirit. Um and when when we s look at the list of the works of the flesh, like we said earlier, there there's some that are maybe more obvious than others. Uh sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery. And it's easy again, uh how we like to make ourselves look less bad than other people to make ourselves feel better, it's easy to see those and be like, well, I don't do those. Or to justify, well, my kind of sexual sexual immorality is hardly immoral compared to other people's sexual immorality in these ways and these ways and these ways. Um but just so that we can't get off looking good, the list doesn't stop there. How about things like strife? Like just there's strife between you and another person at church. Well, that that is the work that your flesh is showing that's the work of the flesh. That's that's Satan's work in your life. The fact that there is strife between you and another believer is a sin issue that is not solely the other person's fault. Jealousy, that's on you. You're jealous of some it they're they're not sinning for what they have, they're not sinning for who they are, they're not sinning for the fact that you can see what they have or whatever you're jealous about. The jealousy's on you, and that's your flesh is showing. Anger? Well, anger is just an emotion. There's nothing wrong with anger. Outbursts of anger is a work of the flesh. And just dissensions and factions, you might call them cliques at at work, at group, where just excluding people for different reasons this this doesn't sound like such a foreign alien list of sins anymore. Like envying. Well, murder. Oh well, that's good. I don't murder. Oh okay, okay, okay, but um you have Jesus saying, but if you're angry with a person that's you know, if you curse someone when you're driving, he didn't give this specific example, but like and you curse someone out, that's uh as far as Jesus is concerned, on the same page as murdering them. Okay, well then maybe we can't get our, you know, can't excuse ourselves from that one so easily. All this stuff. Paul says, I'm warning you, as I warned you before, if you practice these things, you won't inherit the kingdom of God.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Also, it it ends in verse 21 with, and anything similar. Anything similar.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Did I miss something? You still think you're you get off scotch-free from this list?

SPEAKER_00 19:29

If you can check off all those and be like, I never do any of those things, well, there's anything similar.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Anything similar, anything adjacent, like, okay, good. He didn't list that thing. Well, he listed that thing. Okay.

unknown 19:38

That's included.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

And Paul gives, it's like, this is what this is what living in the flesh looks like. Now, are you gonna have maybe there are some that don't really appear and some others that maybe do? Yeah, maybe. Um, but you're gonna generally have this undertone of ultimately you just kind of do what your flesh wants to do, and you're not submitted.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

And you're kind of the the the way I see this too is you're enslaved to the flesh. There's no freedom living in the flesh. Like we're lied to and we're told that like doing whatever you want is what freedom is, like having reacting however you want and having whatever you want when you want it is what freedom is. But but really, it's slavery to the flesh. It's slavery to sin to just give in and have that outburst of anger because it's what you want to feel right now. It's slavery to just see something that someone else has and be jealous over it, be angry at them because they have something. It's it's slavery to get drunk or to give yourself over to sexual immorality because it's what feels good right now. That's just being enslaved to this toddler that is your flesh, like that just wants everything it wants now.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

If it doesn't get it, then it just throws a fit.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Right. Like it's it's being enslaved to to your flesh. And you're not living in freedom at all by doing whatever you want it, whatever your flesh wants to do, whenever your flesh wants to do it. That's not freedom at all. That's just slavery to this undisciplined flesh.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

But where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

There is freedom. And so there's freedom from every single one of these things. And on that list, you might relate to one thing, you might relate to 10 things, but there

Fruit Of The Spirit Grows Together

SPEAKER_00 21:21

is freedom where the spirit of the Lord is. And the spirit, the fruit of the spirit, the fruit that you know that there, the spirit is at work in your life, and you are crucifying all of that flesh, the the representation of that, the proof of that in your life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

It's interesting because in verse 19, Paul says the works of the flesh. Here's plural word, word, plural works, right? All these things. And the fruit is a is a singular word, the fruit of the spirit. And I I know I remember my mom would correct me, like, it's not the fruits of the spirit, it's the fruit of the spirit. And I and I I think it is a a fair distinction because while while you see the These works of the flesh, like you may not see some of them at all in your life, but even just one of them is a sign that the f your sin nature that you're still enslaved to your sin nature, even that much. So like even one of those things, even if you don't do the others, even one of those things is sin and it's slavery and and it's it's not good. And it's it's gonna be a gateway to others and it won't be alone for long. Um but the fruit does like you you can't find well, the person is super loving and super patient, but they are not kind. Like what that that's I don't even know what that person would look like. This person has no self-control, but they are good, they're faithful, they're gentle. Like, uh kind of harder to imagine that because there is something about the fruit of the spirit being singular, that they do grow together. Now, I'm not saying that maybe there's not one that you're like, I do feel like I'm more like Jesus in this area, or I quote, better at it that, you know, that's not exactly how it works. But you know, maybe you're more inclined to some of them than others. Maybe it's you know, oh, the self-control I really got to work on. I'm like of all those, maybe I'm I'm the weakest on that. It's like I'm not saying that that there aren't some maybe different levels.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

We were talking before we started recording that like for me, kindness comes a lot more naturally to me than patience. Like it just it it just does. Like, I I don't have a hard time being kind to people. Being patient when something's frustrating me or someone is frustrating me, that is a lot harder for me. However, as I've grown in Christ and as as he has crucified more and more of my flesh, and more and more of me is submitted to Christ, and I see that in my life, I am becoming more patient and I'm also becoming more kind.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

So, like there, as I I think sometimes we want to separate these out, and you see paintings listed as the fruit of the spirit, but there's like the grapes are labeled as joy is the banana, love is an apple, whatever, and you like just see these listed um and separating them out. And I think we want to separate them out because we see in ourselves, I can see in myself that some of these are in greater measure than other of these in my life. Like some of these come more naturally, some of these I've grown in more in, some of these I still have a lot further to go when I recognize that in myself. And so it's we we it's easy for us to to separate them out as and look at them as different fruits and be like, okay, I've got that one and that one, and now I need to work on this one. But the reality is it is in the original Greek one word fruit, a singular word for fruit. And all of these things really are growing alongside each other. And yes, we and we can admit that some things are a little more lacking and some things a little more growing. But if you really look at your life, if you look at your life in Christ, um it it where one of these elements of the fruit grow, I would say so do the others. At least that's what I've recognized in my own life. Like when I really dig down, I'm like, okay, Lord, I need to be more self-disciplined. When I am more self-disciplined, I am also more kind. I am also more gentle. I am also more patient. I am also more loving. I am also just more faithful when I am more self-disciplined. So they they connect and they grow one another.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

And if you find yourself just lacking in one where one feels like, oh man, that that I feel like I struggle with that one, I think that that is just a sign of there is a work of the flesh that is kind of opposed to that. Like I'm just kind of I it would have been nice if I had made a whole list to go in right now, but I'm just off the top of my head as I look at these verses, I see something like uh like self-control. Like if you struggle with self-control, well, is that because now looking at the works of the flesh list, is it because outbursts of anger is is a work of the flesh that keeps popping up? If you have, oh man, I just don't feel like I'm at peace. I just feel like I'm not at peace. Well, is it because you're harboring hostilities and strife among other believers? Yeah, it's like or or is it uh is it envy? Like is is some sort of um like a greed kind of keeping you from being kind and good and generous? I there if if we're lacking in some area when uh uh among the fruit of the spirit, is there a work of the flesh in this list even that is kind of keeping that from growing?

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Um and the the kind of if you're if you're consumed with selfish ambition, you're less likely to be kind to others. You're less likely to be faithful to the Lord. If you are if you are really given to drunkenness,

How Growth Happens Both And

SPEAKER_00 26:57

then you're less likely to be patient or have self-control. If you're really given to hatred or idolatry, then you're less likely to have love and joy because those are opposed to each other. And I think the the reason you you I think you didn't go and be like, this matches this.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

This is not a one-to-one.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

It's not a one-to-one ratio because literally any of those works of the flesh are opposed to any of the fruit of the spirit.

unknown 27:29

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Like Which is Paul's point. You can't be they're opposed to each other.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

The desires of the flesh are opposed to the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are opposed to the flesh. So any one of those things on the works of the flesh list are opposed to the fruit of the spirit growing in your life. But the fruit of the spirit growing in your life also is against the work of the flesh. And so if if someone if you do struggle in one of these areas, say, say, I'll just to make it personal. I used to really struggle a lot with outbursts of anger. That was that was a thing for me.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Came easily.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Came very easily. I would, I would get very angry very quickly, and I would have outbursts of anger. Well, the way to overcome that is not to just be like, God, don't make me not so angry. God, please, I want to get rid of this anger. God, take this anger away from me. Well, that is a fine prayer, and I would encourage you to pray that. I I think for me, what actually overcame outbursts of anger in my life was growing in faithfulness, self-control, patience, love, joy, peace. When I'm growing the fruit of the spirit in my life, when I'm trying and working and striving to be more like Christ, to know him more and to know, see how he sees me and to live my life in accordance to the word of God and to live my life in submission to Christ. When I'm growing in that, when that fruit of that spirit is growing in me, honestly, just the outbursts of anger just kind of go away because they can't, they can't coincide. Growing in the fruit of the spirit cannot coincide with with this outburst of anger. Like it just, they're not going to be in the same person. So, um, so so where we see those works of the flesh in our lives, I think the the thing to do to come against those things is not just to pray against those things, but to lean into developing fruit and asking the Holy Spirit to develop more fruit in you.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

And it this question comes up with in this sort of conversation of like, well, is it something I can do or is it something God's gonna do? And I I gotta always point back to the answer is yes. The answer is both. Well, how does that work? Well, I don't know completely, but the best explanation I can see from it is in Philippians 2, verses 12 through 13. It says, and I'm reading the New Living Translation, work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. It's like, oh, so it is something that I can do. I gotta work hard to show the results of my salvation, obey God with reverence and fear. Yes, that's what you can do. But verse 13, it goes on, for God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. You can't summon enough desire to please God to make it work. You can't just bolster enough power to do what pleases him without him. He has to give you the desire to please him, he has to give you the power to do what pleases him as you work to show the results of the salvation, the growing this fruit. Do you grow the fruit or does he grow the fruit? Yep. And pray that it grows even more.

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And praise God for that, because if it was all on me, I would grow prideful. If it was all on God, I would grow lazy. So praise God that he in his wisdom, in his divine and perfect wisdom, he has designed it that we work in tandem somehow, where we can't do anything apart from him. And yet we still do the work. Like it, and I can't even explain what that means, except for to know that it's true in my life. I can't do I can't do the work of being more like Christ on my own. But boy, do I have a lot of work to do to be more like Christ. But praise God that He hasn't left me to do it alone and figure it out alone. It is only through His grace and His power in my life that I'm even able to want to be like Christ. So C.S.

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Lewis gives an illustration of when a child is learning how to write letters properly. The child holds the pencil and the teacher

Hold The Pencil Closing Prayer

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or the parent holds the child's hand holding the pencil and guides it to here's how to make this shape. The child is holding the pencil and writing the letters, but is really only doing it with any level of accuracy because of the parent or the teacher who is holding them and guiding them to go in the right direction. And that's where we find ourselves in this whole work of becoming more like Jesus. We can't possibly do it on our own, but we but we can't do nothing. And so we we invite him to would you please take over and guide and direct. And uh if all I have to do is hang on to the pencil, then help me to hang on to the pencil for dear life, because this is this is the way that this is the way to go, this is the way to life. And uh, I hope you're encouraged by this conversation. Uh I I think it's uh it's always good to take passages like this, and like we've said on the podcast before, not assume you're the good guy. Like, not assume that, oh look, this is fruit of the spirit, this will describe me. Aren't I doing well? Let's let's not let let's not use the Bible to do that. Let's let's be real honest, take a look at some of the dirty, nasty, dark lists, and just ask, hey God, if you see anything, anything like Paul says, even similar things like to these in my life, please help me to live according to the way you want me to live and grow this fruit of the spirit in my life, and help me to be faithful as you do your work in me. That's that's the prayer that we can walk away from here, and and I I pray that for you, and I'm thankful for you joining us in this conversation, and I'm excited to see what God continues to do in your life as you work out your salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord. We'll see you next time on Out Loud Bible Podcast.