Daily Devotional For Thursday, May 22, 2025
Good day Southside. God’s blessings to you as you serve Him today. We live in a culture where feelings dictate behavior rather than behavior dictating feelings. Morality has been reduced to selfish subjectivism and relativism. No longer are we a culture or a country where there is an agreed right and wrong. “If it feels good, do it” even if it hurts someone else. The Bible says this in Galatians 5:13, “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love” (NLT).
In Galatians 5:13, the Apostle Paul is expounding on what he wrote in Galatians 5:1, “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law” (NLT). In each verse, the pronoun “you” builds on his confidence that they would return to the faith that saved them as in Galatians 5:10. In Galatians 5:12, Paul encourages the Christians in the Galatian church to pay no attention to the Judaizers, Jews who had become Christians but still insisted on following the Old Testament law. Paul knew we are saved by grace, not the law.
But in the church of Galatian, with the Gentiles, he was battling cultural subjectivism and religious legalism. He writes about it in Galatians in Gal. 5:13. It is the treat of the flesh. The Greek New Testament word is [σάρξ, sarx]. A good definition of this word would be “self-indulgence” or “sinful nature.” This is a slavery every Christian must avoid coming under its grip and entrapment. We see this today with the words “I want” or “I feel” rather than God’s wants and God feels. Paul has already used this same word, “sarx” 8 times previously in the book of Galatians – see 1:16; 2:16, 20; 3:3; 4:13, 14, 23, 29.
In this case, “flesh” is more than our physical makeup, it refers to that negative and sinful desire to rebel against God. It is more than just a weakness we have; it is our old nature that wants to indulge itself in attitudes and actions against God and our redeemed new nature in Christ. This results in what Paul calls “the deed of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19 .
The Bible calls that our carnal or earthly nature, the part of every person that is in rebellion to God. Paul tells us we should not use the freedom we have in Christ to indulge our sinful nature, and “indulge” is a good word. It means we know some thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors are not godly, but we decide to engage in them anyway. We know we shouldn’t use our words to manipulate people, but we do. We know we shouldn’t allow our thoughts to wander in an ungodly direction, but we do. We know we shouldn’t watch certain television shows, but we do. Paul says that instead of focusing on “I” and indulging any kind of ungodliness, we should turn our eyes away from ourselves and turn our focus toward others—and then serve them in humility and love.
Paul understood our propensity to think that without our new found freedom in Christ we might think we could go and indulge in any sin we want. He rebukes that in Galatians 5:16-17, 19-21 24:
“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. (17) The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires . . . (19) When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, (20) idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, (21) envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God . . . (24) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there” (NLT).
These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your indulgences. This is why in Galatians 5:13, the Apostle Paul uses the Greek New Testament word [ἀφορμή, aphorome] for the word translated as “indulge.” This word literally means “a starting point, a base of operations for a military mission.”
New Testament scholar Bruce B. Barton writes this: “We might even use the word springboard. Christian freedom is not meant to be the base of operations, the springboard and pretext for indulging in everything one’s sinful nature desires. The irony, then, would be that Christian freedom would be used to return to slavery to sin—for to fulfill every desire is to be enslaved to those desires” (Source: Bruce B. Barton, The Life Application Study Bible, p. 173).
Ask the Holy Spirit to show how you can help or serve someone today. Serving others is an expression of God’s love and how we build up the Body of Christ.
Assignment: Take some time to reflect on where in your life you are using your Christian freedom as a springboard for indulging in anything sinful. Where in your life is “I want” and “I feel” overriding what Christ wants and feels for you. Instead of the “Fruit of the Flesh,” focus on allowing God to grow the “Fruit of the Spirit” in you. As you look over these below, which of these do you need God to produce in you today?
Scripture To Meditate On: Galatians 5:22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, I repent of indulging and using my flesh as a springboard for my sin and selfish ambition. I ask for Your forgiveness. Holy Spirit, I invite You to search me and know my heart. Bring my intentions in alignment with Your Word. Today, I choose to humbly submit myself to Your Lordship. Please produce Your Fruit of the Spirit in me for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly.