Living our lives controlled by sinful desires is the opposite of walking with the Holy Spirit. This daily devotional looks at a list of sins given to the Galatians by Paul.
Nuggets
- God identifies sins as things that go against His character.
- We can commit murder in many different ways.
- Sinning rather that walking with the Spirit brings dire consequences.
Devotions in the Never Alone: The Holy Spirit in Our Lives series
We’ve looked extensively at each sin listed here in the Walk in the Spirit series. I don’t want to cover the same ground here.
So, let’s take more of an overview approach. That way we can see exactly where the Holy Spirit fits in.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
We have looked at this passage of verses a couple of times – and in depth.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
Let's Put It into Context #3
Walk is the term used to describe how we live our lives, specifically our habitual state of mind, behavior, and manners. Walking with God means we are humble, reverent, teachable servants of God. Walking in the Spirit is our acceptance of the fact that we cannot win over sin without the ministering of the Holy Spirit because we are weak.
The flesh is our human, sinful nature that focuses on our own ends.
A Sampling of Sins
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these …” (Gal. 5: 19-21 ESV)
God identifies sins as things that go against His character.
We are made in God’s image. However, after Adam and Eve chose to sin, mankind has been corrupted by sinful nature.
Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
Glossary
Paul included a list of some sins in Galatians 5: 19-21. This list is not exhaustive, but it does give us a rough idea of what displeases God.
Bayley and Eadie grouped the 17 sins listed into four broad categories. They were similar, but I picked which one I thought was most easily understood.
- Sensuality
- Idolatry
- Malice
- Personal excess
Resource
All sin has a root of displaying disobedience toward God. God has told us to do or not do something — and we do the exact opposite because we do not want to obey Him.
This sampling shows us that the whole of us is sinful. “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Rom. 7: 18 ESV).
Look at the list again. It talks about who we are to how we interact with others. It talks about emotions and actions.
It implies it is our choice to commit these sins. If we had no choice in the matters why make the list?
Some sins are committed only in the heart. Our actions stem from who we are.
Our motivation is determined by what we value in our hearts. If I value others more than myself, my motivations will be totally different than if I value myself or things more than people.
Some sins are committed only in the mind. That is why we have to corral our thoughts.
Many times, sin appears as something bright and shiny. This masks it’s destructive capabilities.
The hardest sins to identify are those that, in some cases, aren’t a sin but, in other cases, are. Maybe our motivation is wrong. We may be obsessed with something that kicks it into being a sin.
Maybe God has told us to do something a certain way, and we choose not to do it that way. A good example of this is how we are to worship and serve God.
It is our choice to not listen to what God is saying.
A Bonus
We can commit murder in many different ways.
I didn’t want to get into all of the sins individually. However, I did find a great sermon by Goodheart entitled Murders.
Goodheart made a great observation. He wrote, “Life is threefold of the body, mind, and spirit; and murder against each may be deliberate or careless, resulting from action or inaction.”
Resource
Ooo, baby. We just think of murder as murdering the body. There is so much more we can kill.
We can kill someone’s reputation — and even their opinion of themselves. We can kill their correct opinion by biting on them because they don’t think like we do — but we are wrong.
Unfortunately, we can kill their desire to as Jesus to be their Savior and Redeemer. Or we don’t witness to them like we should. That is the worst murder we can commit.
Parker took the same track. The example that caught my eye was when he wrote, “Anger without cause is murder.” The rest of his examples were more socially oriented.
Resource
I know. Murder isn’t on this list. It is a commandment.
But it means so much more than we realize.
A Big Warning
“… I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5: 21 ESV)
Sinning rather that walking with the Spirit brings dire consequences.
Let’s start at the end and work backwards.
The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom that describes His sovereign reign.
Only the righteous can enter the kingdom of God, also called the kingdom of Heaven. “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5: 20 ESV).
In other words, we have to be genuine in our relationship with God.
Person of Interest
We might look at the list and say we don’t commit all of those sins. It doesn’t matter.
Starke explained. He wrote, “It is not needful for a man to do all these sins, or many such, to fall under the penalty; it is enough if he lets one single sin rule over him, let it be what it will.”
Resource
Until we admit that mankind was separated from God after the original sin, making us sinners; believe Jesus paid the penalty for those sins to become our Savior and Redeemer; confess God as Sovereign God; and demonstrate that commitment by submitting to living our lives following His laws and commandments confessing God as Sovereign Lord, we will be facing the consequences of our sins.
Making the Connections
Bottom line is sin is being disobedient to God. We don’t want to do that.
We want to be led by the Holy Spirit to follow His laws and commandments.
How Do We Apply This?
- Work to not sin.
- Repent when we do.
- Avoid the opportunities that tempt us to sin.
- Fill our time with doing God’s work.
- Seek God
- Put the priority on God, not self.
Resource
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Father God. Thank You for showing us what sins are. Only through the help of the Holy Spirit will we gain victory over sin. We long to experience that victory because we long to be like You. Amen.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
What do you think?
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