Having a Field Day . . . Spiritually

Field Day was always my favorite day of the school year. Instead of going to class, we had a full day of recess, only more organized. Competitions included track and field events, sack races, and relays. I never did too well at the speed events since I am designed more for comfort than for speed. I fared better in “skills” oriented competitions like punt-pass-kick, softball hitting, throwing, and such as those. But my favorite event was tug-o-war.

We would choose teams and take our positions on opposite sides of a mud-filled pit, each team taking a sturdy grip on an end of a long rope stretched across the pit. The object was to pull the other team into the mud pit. We usually ended up with both teams in the pit and covered with mud from head to toe.

Spiritually speaking, we live with a daily tug-o-war raging in our souls. In the one hand, the devil works through our fleshly desires to tempt us toward sinful attitudes, actions, and affections. On the other hand, God’s Holy Spirit living inside of us strives to make us more like Jesus, a process we refer to theologically as sanctification. The current winner is not too difficult to discern:

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 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.

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 5:19-23

The lists are pretty self-explanatory. An honest assessment of the attitudes, actions, and affections prevalent in your life will demonstrate quite clearly which side is winning in the spiritual tug-o-war of your life. If immorality, selfishness, or divisiveness marks your life then the devil is prevailing through your flesh. If love, joy, peace, and qualities that are Christlike describe your demeanor then obviously the Holy Spirit controls you.

The winner in the tug-o-war contest is YOUR CHOICE. Let’s face it, if we are honest when behave fleshly it is because we choose to behave fleshly. When we behave godly, it is because we choose to let the Holy Spirit influence our behavior. Paul goes on to write:

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. – Galatians 5:24-25

Spiritual living is not rocket science, it is rather an conscious decision of our will to allow God’s Holy Spirit to control our thinking and behaving. The one (flesh or Spirit) we choose is the one who wins.

Who did you choose today?