Scripture to Meditate on this Week

This is something that I wrote and emailed to the folk at my church.

'And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit let us also keep in step with the Spirit.' Galatians 5.24-25

I have begun using the ‘Fighter Verse’ program from Desiring God. Each week the app on my phone lists a new passage of Scripture to memorize. Recently, Galatians 5.24-25 popped up. I included that Scripture at the bottom of last week’s announcement sheet. I did that because I was thinking that it would be good for you to have some Scripture to think about during the week.

What follows is just one result of my own meditation on this Scripture.

Verb tenses are important. Paul instructed the Galatians that their flesh (that’s Paul’s way of referring to the sinful orientation that we all inherited from Adam) has been crucified. That means that it’s dead. And that offers great hope. To be sure, we still have sinful habits. But none of them are being fed by the flesh like they used to be. That means that we can be very optimistic about getting rid of each sinful habit we set our sights on. We can be freed. I think that that is so very encouraging especially when some sinful habit seems completely unaffected by our attempts to be rid of it. It may take great effort, but there is no sinful habit that we have that cannot be tossed. This is another gift of the Gospel.And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5.24-25

I have begun using the ‘Fighter Verse’ program from Desiring God. Each week the app on my phone lists a new passage of Scripture to memorize. Recently, Galatians 5.24-25 popped up. I included that Scripture at the bottom of last week’s announcement sheet. I did that because I was thinking that it would be good for you to have some Scripture to think about during the week.

What follows is just one result of my own meditation on this Scripture.

Verb tenses are important. Paul instructed the Galatians that their flesh (that’s Paul’s way of referring to the sinful orientation that we all inherited from Adam) has been crucified. That means that it’s dead. And that offers great hope. To be sure, we still have sinful habits. But none of them are being fed by the flesh like they used to be. That means that we can be very optimistic about getting rid of each sinful habit we set our sights on. We can be freed. I think that that is so very encouraging especially when some sinful habit seems completely unaffected by our attempts to be rid of it. It may take great effort, but there is no sinful habit that we have that cannot be tossed. This is another gift of the Gospel.