The Struggle is Real

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5 contrasts what it means to follow our sinful nature or to let the Holy Spirit guide our lives. The struggle is real. You may know people who are genuine believers in Christ who struggle with things like jealousy, envy, or anger. Let’s be honest. You may be one of those people. It may be your default mode to be jealous or to become angry, but you can make a quality decision to choose to follow the Spirit’s leading in every area of your life.  

I remember hearing the testimony of someone who lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off by changing his eating habits. “I don’t wait until an enormous piece of chocolate cake is in front of me,” he said, “to decide if I am going to have chocolate cake. No. I decided a long time ago how I was going to handle chocolate cake.” 

Let’s not wait until we are staring temptation in the face to decide how we are going to deal with it. Make a quality decision today to choose the leading of the Holy Spirit over jealousy, anger, envy, self-ambition, or any other sin. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you away from the desires of your sinful nature until love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are evident in your life.