What does it take to be the selfless, loving Christian we desire to be? What is needed to move us beyond our inconsequential selfish, fleshly pursuits to deeds of loving service to God and others?
First, it requires a firm grasp on your identity in Christ. You can't love like Jesus loved until you accept the reality that, since you are in Christ, His divine nature is united with your spirit.
Second, you must begin to crucify daily the old sin-trained flesh and walk in accordance with who you are: a child of God whose spirit is filled with God's Spirit.
The fact that the Holy Spirit resides in us and that we can live according to His leading is an awesome but elusive concept to many. The problem is not new. Nicodemus was a learned man, but he couldn't comprehend life in the Spirit. So Jesus told him, "the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going, so is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). Trying to reduce life in the Spirit to a formula is like trying to capture the wind.
Someone reflecting on the mysteries of walking by the Spirit said, "I think we need to pull in the oars and put up the sail!" I like that. When we walk by the Spirit, we stop striving. We are no longer driven; we are led. "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Romans 8:14). When we come to the end of our resources, we discover His.
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