Walk in Step with the Spirit

By Rick Carrol

It feels like there are only about 24 hrs when an avocado is in the perfect condition. For weeks, it’s hard and woody, then suddenly it turns brown and mushy. But, if you get it at just the right moment, it’s truly delicious.

Every living thing goes through a process of growing, ripening, blossoming, and then decaying.

The New Testament talks a lot of about the way we grow our spiritual lives. We’re born new, in the Holy Spirit in the moment of salvation. We are invited to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, but that’s not the end of the process.

We’re encouraged to walk every day in step with the Holy Spirit to ensure that we don’t start to see decay take over our lives, and turn what was intended to be great into something sour.

Galatians 5 teaches us that our words should be loving, our lives joyful, and our hearts at peace. We should be offering patience and gentleness to others, bringing kindness and goodness to the world, exhibiting faithfulness while demonstrating self-control. A life without these qualities, is under ripened, or starting to decay.

Galatians 5: 22-24

“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! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.”