It’s Friday, the beginning of the weekend. So, below you will find some wise counsel, straight from the Apostle Paul to the saints at Galatia and to you and me as well. If I had to describe the translation that I have chosen to pass Paul’s wise counsel to you, I would say that it is pretty straightforward or self-explanatory.
Therefore, I don’t need to explain it, expound on it, or engage in writing what could be construed as a mini-expository message. I’ll just let you read below. However, I can’t let you go to that text too quickly. It is necessary, before you do skip to the verses below, for me remind you of the principle we learned in science, back in our school days: “Two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time.” So, after reading the wise counsel below, continue to live right, committed to the climb, fill up your space with righteousness and godliness as you are guided to by the Holy Spirit. Leave no room for other things, contrary to the ways of the righteous occupy your space.
For some who read this or those you share this with, it should be construed that we, saints, we might have to move some things out of our space so that a Spirit-filled life can be lived. By the way, from this writer’s perspective, weekend is Friday and Saturday, but the counsel given by Paul is applicable for every day we are on this Christian journey. Furthermore, if you see the weekend as “my days to do my thing,” remember Sunday is actually the beginning of the week. Furthermore, it is the Lord’s Day. Hence, I say to you to follow the Spirit’s leading you into the sanctuary Sunday, to be in special presence of the Lord. Now, you can read on. Be blessed!
“My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are contrary to each other, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.” (Galatians 5:16-21 The Message Bible)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King