Two Gifts that Make Real Change Possible
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.—Gal. 5:16-18
As we near the end of this series, I want to close with two more essential things we need as we pursue real change. Both of these are gifts of God that help us to persevere in the work of change and protect us from pride or despair.
Gift #1: The Holy Spirit
One of the key ingredients to change is not our will power. It is not our tenacity or grit.
The life of God is not something that we can achieve by our own strength. It is too high a calling to do on our own.
Yes, we are to make an effort to put off and put on, as we mentioned in the last post. But our ability to do that is made possible only because the Holy Spirit now resides within us.
This is a gift of God that comes with our repentance and faith in Christ. God does not merely save us from our past sins. He grants us His righteousness and equips us to walk in that righteousness from here on out.
As we have discussed before, there are only two pathways to life. We either live in Christ, redeemed by Him, with a new heart and new desires that lead to good fruit—or we don’t. There is no middle ground, no third option of “Jesus + _____(my good works or efforts)__________” to earn my righteousness.
Change is not a matter of following certain techniques or methods. There are no “ten easy steps” or foolproof methods that can guarantee change.
Neither is it a matter of quality teaching. You can hear excellent teaching that inspires no change. Or you can hear a lackluster sermon that changes your life.
It is instead all a matter of the Holy Spirit. And when we have the Spirit, there are so many blessings He bestows on us to make change possible.
He opens our blind eyes to see our offense toward God
He sheds light of understanding on heart issues at play
He gives a new interpretation to our suffering and helps us see it in a new light
He convicts us of our sins—those we commit, those we omit
He restores us back to the Father as we seek His forgiveness
He motivates us to repentance and commitment to change
He guides us into all truth as we read His Word
He empowers us to obey, exercise self-control, flee temptation
He teaches us new ways to walk, identifying how Scripture intersects our lives
He comforts us when we fail and encourages us to turn back to Christ instead of wallowing
He helps us endure and persevere through chronic issues or pains with grace and goodness
He transforms us as we step out in faith and choose Christ instead of self
He brings forth good fruit in our lives that reflect Christ
He gives us hope that all our little efforts will help us transform into Christlikeness.
Unlike David, who prayed that the Holy Spirit not be taken from him (Ps. 51:11b), those who are now in Christ need not fear that. He will be with us always. There is never a moment when we are not alone.
Though we can grieve the Holy Spirit by our sin (Eph. 4:30), He will not leave. Instead, He will keep interceding for us (Rom. 8:27), along with Jesus Himself (Rom. 8:34), praying we will turn back to God and seek His forgiveness (1 John 1:9).
Through the blood of Jesus, we are restored to the Father, our sins cleared off our record. It is with this same blood that we are made righteous, new creations with new desires to love, glorify and serve Him. With this same sacrifice, we are gifted with the Holy Spirit who lives within us to comfort, help, and guide us so that we become who God intended us to be.
For our part then, we commit to walking by the Spirit—not to earn His favor, but to grow more and more like Jesus. Paul Tautges describes it this way: “To walk by the Spirit means to walk according to the ways of God that He revealed in His Word.”
It means when the heat of life brings suffering, we turn our eyes to Him, maintaining communion with Him in our pain, trusting His sovereign hold over this situation.
It means that when we are sorely tempted to give in to the flesh, be it to pursue a lustful passion, say a harsh word to prove we’re right, or take our own revenge, we confess our weakness and ask His Spirit to provide a better, righteous way out instead.
It means that when we are on the receiving end of someone else’s pain, anger, or unfair treatment, we don’t lash back in retaliation in an attempt to even the score but bring our sorrows to God in lament, trusting He sees the situation and will avenge us in His good time.
It means that when we witness lies and falsehood gripping our minds in fear and shame, we don’t let them take over the airwaves of our mind but turn our thoughts to the bedrock truth of His Word and cling in faith, despite what we see, in the hope that is found in Christ alone.
This is the first gift—the Holy Spirit. We no longer walk on our own through enemy territory. We need not battle sin ourselves. He is with us and will help us.
Gift #2: A Living Hope
In these days, we live in a war zone as exiles, making our way through this wilderness back home to the Father. In this foreign land, we are both tested by God through suffering and tempted by the pleasures of this world. You’re not imagining it: it is hard to live here as a Christian!
But God does not want us to be stoics, setting our face towards what is right as if we are eating sour lemons because it’s good for us.
No—that is not what He intends for His children! We may be living in a war zone now, but that is not the end of the story. The greater truth is, in His sovereign hands, God is still at work despite Satan’s rule. He will win this war.
This is our second gift: the promise of a living hope. There is something awaiting us on the other side! There is a reward to come.
Peter describes this in 1 Peter 1:3-5.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Not only will He remove all evil from within us, He will ensure that there will be no evil in the world either. Satan will be removed from his throne, and he and all his minions cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10, 14-15).
Not only that, as His bride, we who are God’s children will see the face of our beloved Bridegroom, in glad communion with all the saints (Rev. 21:2). We will settle into the home He has prepared for us in the Father’s house (John 14:2-3).
One day, our faith will be made sight. Therefore, despite the frustrations, discouragements, and sufferings we experience in this world, in ourselves, and in others, we can persevere.
We can keep doing the hard work of sacrificing when there is no seeming return, knowing He will reward.
We can keep forgiving and wisely loving those who hurt us, as Christ loved his enemies.
We can keep sharing the gospel in a world that is increasingly opposed to the gospel with winsomeness and conviction.
We can keep battling the temptation to please others, earn our own salvation, prove our worth and contrive our own means to make ourselves feel better.
Little by little, the Holy Spirit sets forth that hope, calling us to fix our eyes on Christ so we can run the marathon of faith with courage. In this day, in this time, we have this gift of hope to fuel us and keep us walking.
It is hard to keep going in what is good and right when there is no end in sight. But God gives us this end.
We get hints of it in Scripture. Most importantly, it is where we will dwell with our Savior (Rev. 21:3). Here, there is no longer any grief, pain, or death (Rev. 21:4). Instead, there will be beauty (Rev. 21:10-21) and light, for He is the Lamp (Rev. 21:23).
Unlike the Spirit, who is a gift for today, this is a gift for eternity. With the Helper walking with us and a home to go to, we can live each day with Him.
This is what keeps us running the race with endurance towards Christ, allowing Him to do the hard work of change in our lives, even if it is painful. We know it will get us somewhere.
So until that day we keep walking by the Spirit. William MacDonald writes:
“To walk in (or by) the Spirit is to allow Him to have His way. It is to remain in communion with Him. It is to make decisions in the light of His holiness. It is to be occupied with Christ, because the Spirit’s ministry is to engage the believer with the Lord Jesus. When we thus walk in the Spirit, the flesh, or self-life, is treated as dead. We cannot be occupied at the same time with Christ and with sin.”
This is the real change we long for. Though it may look the same on the outside—changed attitudes, behaviors, and actions—we have come at it from a different means.
No longer do we need to white-knuckle our way to change. Instead, when we humbly lean on Christ in the power of the gospel, we are renewed and empowered from within. The change we long to see then becomes a fruit that is produced in us by God, not one we try to manufacture ourselves.
We will always be dealing with sin and suffering, evil within and hardships without. But as we do, keep your heart set on this:
“The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.” (Is. 40:28b-31)
