Choose This Day

*Choose This Day*

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of
the flesh." Galatians 5:16

Every child grows up learning to play the "Follow the Leader" game.
Unknown to children, it's really an instinctive tendency on the part of
humans and even most animal species to follow a leader. As much as we
might not like to admit it, we are all followers of something (philosophy,
idea, worldview) or someone.

As his logical, deductive mind did so often, the apostle Paul boiled down
the "following" tendency into two major categories: we can follow the flesh
(which is influenced by the world, our own sinful desires, and the devil)
or we can follow the Spirit of God. "For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to
the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Gal. 5:17). So
we are never in the "neutral" zone where we are not following the one or
the other. From the point in life at which we develop the conscious
ability to make moral and spiritual choices, we are in a following mode for
which we are accountable before God.

The "flesh," in Paul's terminology, is our natural (fallen) human
instincts, oriented to self-serving and self-gratification. That's what we
follow if we are not following the leading of the Holy Spirit. The only
way not to follow and carry out the desires of the flesh is to follow and
carry out the desires of the Spirit. Paul summarizes it this way, "Put ye
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil
the lusts thereof" (Rom. 13:14) This involves an active, conscious choice,
each and every moment of every day. Live in the choosing mode today, and
choose wisely: follow the Spirit of God.

*The wisdom of the flesh is always exclaiming against the mysteries of
God. (John Calvin)*