REPURPOSED

Today’s study will build on the general idea of your new identity in Christ by identifying some practical characteristics of a new heart. What does it look like to turn away from the darkness, come out of hiding, and walk in the light with a heart like Jesus’ heart?

I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. - GALATIANS 5:16-18

When you believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives inside you. He’s the One who enables you to want to follow light and shun darkness. He renews your heart. If you’ve ever felt the tension between your old self and your new self, don’t mistake that struggle for the absence of a new heart. The fact that you feel opposition is a sign of good spiritual health; it means the Spirit is working inside you. When your sinful desires win out in the tug-of-war inside you, the key is to confess and repent. If you never feel resistance, you should question whether you’re actually growing in Christ. Yet even growing Christians will occasionally feel a pull toward darkness.

From the list that follows, circle any desires of the flesh that are still a struggle for you (see Gal. 5:19).

Sexual immorality | Moral impurity | Promiscuity | Idolatry |  Sorcery |  Hatreds | Strife

Jealousy | Outbursts of anger |  Selfish ambitions | Dissensions |  Factions | Envy

Drunkenness | Carousing | Anything similar

Read Galatians 5:22-23 and record the fruit of the Spirit on the lines that follow.

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When we know the Spirit, He produces spiritual fruit in our lives. Notice that Galatians says “fruit” and not “fruits.” This is an important distinction. The fruit of the Spirit is like the pieces of a single citrus fruit. A tree bears only one kind of fruit. There’s no such thing as a generic citrus tree that produces oranges, lemons, and limes. But the inside of an orange, for example, reveals multiple pieces of the same fruit.

It would be tempting to say, “I’m not a lemon tree, so I need to produce only oranges.” Spiritually, this argument would be like saying, “I’m not a kind person, so I need to have only self-control.” The reality is that the nine distinct pieces make up a single fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life, so you don’t get to pick and choose the fruit you exhibit. Of course, some traits will develop more easily for you. Other traits will develop more easily for others. But a healthy heart with the Spirit of Christ in it shouldn’t have gaping holes. That would be rotten fruit.

Jesus said people can be recognized by their fruit (see Matt 7:16). The Holy Spirit at work in our lives gives us the freedom to deny sin and choose God. When this happens, we produce fruit. Freedom doesn’t mean following your heart. True freedom is following the One who created and redeemed you—your Savior and Lord:

For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

- GALATIANS 5:1

Pray that the Holy Spirit will help you weed out old desires of the flesh that still express themselves in your life and that He will help you grow into a well-rounded, Spirit-filled bearer of good fruit.