A Glance at Galatians Pt 8

Pt 8 :: First Start Walking

They say that 30 min walking a day is a good amount of exercise you need to be healthy. In Chapter 5:16 Paul tells us to walk, but for more then 30 min a day. He wants us to continue walking and to walk by the spirit. We have seen from 5v1 that Christ has set us free and now we are free to walk and once we start walking we wont start gratifying the desires of the flesh. Most of the time we think that if I just stop doing this sin, if I can just have enough strength to not do this again then I will be accepted by God, then I will be able to walk in the Spirit.

But this is BACKWARDS... look at the text:

"But I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" - (5v16)

What does Paul tell the Galatians that they must do first? Is it to not gratify the desires of the flesh? Is it to stop sinning in your strength, is it to muster up some amazing power to be perfect? No... He says, "walk by the spirit"... you first walk by the spirit, you first fix your eyes on Jesus, you first walk in His strength and His power, you taste the glory of Jesus and you see Him as better then anything in this world AND THEN... once you know Him and your walking in His ways and you are savouring Him, then you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

WHY? Paul goes on to tell us in 5v17 that the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit. There is a war here, they are opposed to each other. So we need to fight it...

But first we need to see Jesus. Then, fixing our eyes on Him as we walk through the day we will no longer have our eyes on ourselves. We will stop looking inward to our desires and start living for Jesus everyday. Paul talks about this alot in his letters, he wants Christians to stop looking at themselves and start looking at Jesus and keep focused on Him and then they will be able to continue through sufferings and trials and they will look at the things that tempt them or at the things the world strives for (career, money, sex, success, drink, house, cars, good schooling etc) and see all of that as rubbish compared to Christ. But we cant compare it all to Christ if we are not focused on Him, if we are not walking in His ways...

So you need to start walking in the spirit first...fix your eyes and your hopes on Jesus and see how He is better then the temptations in front of you and see how he helps you when struggling against the desires of the flesh.