Spirit life.......... Kingdom Life........ Flesh life........
These three will make up our
whole way of living and relating in our
families. Often, unfortunately, the flesh life will overtake the life of the
spirit. Who knows this? How often can we say with Paul, “I know what is right
and good to do but I just go and do the opposite!”? See Romans 7:15,19.
Let’s just define these three:
Living in the Spirit means living a life filled with the Holy Spirit and
relating every action and thought and habit pattern to Him, living life in His
fullness and therefore demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit as detailed in
Gal 5:22. Remember these gifts grow and will certainly not be full and ripe
overnight. So keep pressing on even when you feel your patience, kindness, gentleness etc is at low
ebb!
Living in the Kingdom means living under the rule of Jesus your King,
making Him Lord of your life. Jesus has saved us and set us free by His death
on the Cross and we are forgiven, loved and accepted children of God. However,
we need to progress by learning obedience and finding out His will for us even
in the mundane ordinary daily tasks and responsibilities we have as parents. It
is incredibly liberating when you seek and find His will (eg: in budgeting) because
you know then He will provide the resources to overcome and live for Him, in
right relationship, and in peace and joy!
“For the Kingdom of God
Living in the flesh is just exactly what it says! Your life is ruled not
only by your own desires but also by your children's demands and the stresses
of life. Peace and joy go out of the window! And this will result in the opposite
of the fruits of the Spirit, as in Gal 5:19-21. “…strife, jealousy, outbursts
of anger, disputes, dissensions ….”! Sound familiar? There are extremes
portrayed in this list, and of course, living in the flesh will ultimately lead
to possible immoral behaviour and impurity.
But, to bring this into the
perspective of ordinary family life, here is a list of what the flesh will let
us in for:
- Harshness and anger
- Laziness and laxness
- Too busy
- Selfish
- Temperamental
- Inconsistent
- Joyless and depressed
- Lonely
- Frustrated and bored
- Fed-up
You can add to this list, I
am sure.
Paul says, “If we live by
the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Gal 5:25 We are born again
children of God and we live in the Spirit as, by faith, we recognise our flesh
has been crucified with Christ (Gal 5:24), but we have to learn to WALK our
daily lives in the Spirit.
Only by the grace of
God, His love and mercy in our lives daily, can we live by the Spirit. It means
continuing dependence on Him in every part of our lives. Peter, the impetuous
disciple, who used to jump in with both feet, tells us, “…keep sober in spirit, fix
your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former
lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you,
be holy yourselves also in all your behaviour.” 1 Peter 1:13-15
“All who are being led by the Spirit of
God, these are the sons of God.” Rom 8:14
Living in the fullness of
the Spirit also means living in the Kingdom, where Jesus is King! There is no
way we can achieve this without the constant help, grace and presence of Jesus
in our lives. It means a daily giving of ourselves and our family to Him! It means joy and peace, even in times of stress and difficulty!
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