Day 2638 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
Galatians 5:16 NIV
Ok, so we've covered the dangers of material desires and our instinctual human need to feel as though we need to fill our lives with everything we desire in order to find meaning and a sense of success in life. But how? How do we learn how to go against what we've always known? How can we break free from the normalcies of a fallen society that is consumed with the pursuit of excess? How can we free our lives from the control of our deceitful hearts that crave material comfort?
We can't. We ourselves cannot do it. It's in our bones. It's instilled in our human DNA. We're born into a world that is built around what you have and what you want and what other people are idolizing. We grow up being bombarded with messages and ideas and lies that point us toward ourselves and all those worldly desires that we're surrounded by. We can't free ourselves from those desires. We can't heal the brokenness into which we're born and raised. But even though it's not possible for us to do it ourselves, we thankfully have a Guide who knows the way.
Christ came to this earth to show us how to live upright, holy, and focused lives completely devoted to following the will of God over our own. He gave us the perfect example that proves that life can be lived in a way contrary to the status quo that all of humanity has settled for accepting. And when He left this earth to return to His throne, He left us the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us through the countless temptations that we're going to be faced with during our stay on this rock.
That's how we do it. That's how we find freedom from the allure of earthly treasures. That's how we shake the grip of this world off of our hearts so that we can instead live for something greater than this place. By surrendering our hearts to God's guidance and healing and help. By waking up every single morning and praying for Him to lead us to what matters and away from everything that doesn't. By making that choice every day that we're here to put Him first and strive each and every hour to die to self and live for more than the empty and shallow desires that we'd otherwise spend our lives chasing after.
Don't get me wrong, it's not easy. It's never going to be easy because we're never going to be perfect and get it right every single time. But we keep going. We keep trying. We keep ourselves in prayer so that our hearts and minds are focused on God rather than all the other things that are swirling around us. We fight when it gets hard, pray when it feels impossible, and lay ourselves at the foot of the cross when it's simply too much for us to handle by ourselves. That's when He steps in. That's when we find the Holy Spirit that He placed inside of us. That's when we learn to walk by faith and stop paying so much attention to all the things that our eyes want to look at.
Through these lives and our time spent living them, we're always going to have two very distinct and very different choices. We can live to gratify our human desires. Or we can live to glorify the desires of our Heavenly Father who calls us to a far higher standard than we're willing to accept. By our human nature, we'll give in and settle for the path of least resistance. We'll choose to give up the fight and allow this world and all of its luxurious excess to consume our thoughts, control our lives, and drag us away from God.
But when we learn to lean on the Holy Spirit, when we remain committed to focusing on God, and when we get ourselves and what we want out of the way and let Him lead, then we can be sure that He won't settle for what we otherwise would. He knows what's best for us, and what's best for us is the life He calls us to live according to His plans and purposes. And while we may be willing to trade that, He never will, and He won't let us either. But only when we walk by the Spirit and refuse to settle for gratifying the lesser desires that the world tries to convince us are just as good as what He offers.
Friends, as difficult as it may be, it is well worth the struggle and the fight because this world isn't close to what we've been offered. And that's why we can't settle for what we think is good enough because doing so will only keep us from growing closer to what we have the opportunity to find. So please take the advice found in this verse to heart. Stop living to simply scratch some selfish itch and learn to set your heart on something that is worth far more than anything we can lay our hands on in this place.
Our lesser human desires may lead to our every dream being fulfilled. But they cannot lead us to Heaven. They cannot allow room for anything other than what we want, and so they cannot make room for Christ. And friends, He has always and will always be the only way through those gates. So we better learn to stop worrying about what we want and get all that junk out of the way so that He can have our whole heart. Otherwise all we’ll ever find is a life filled with everything we want, but absolutely nothing we desperately need.
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