Fullness of Life in the Spirit (Part 2)
I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it. — Ezekiel 37:14
If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit. — Galatians 5:25
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: The Word is not merely a set of instructions we must follow; it strengthens us to grow in obedience. The challenge of the Christian life is to walk by the Spirit, who gave us life and freed us from the power of sin. Although we have received a new nature, the spiritual struggle continues, and we must entrust to Him the fleshly concerns that persist. Love for God and our neighbor reveals our true spirituality; from that love flows willing obedience through God’s grace. Fullness of life is shown in joy, peace, and freedom to do what pleases the Lord. Understanding this teaching is not enough: let us put it into practice each day and allow the Spirit to reach the areas where we still resist Him.
Building our lives on a foundation of biblical principles can at times leave us frustrated in our walk with Christ. The Bible is not an instruction manual to be followed, but a stream of living water to drink from, a “vitamin supplement” that strengthens the soul and spirit, a spiritual source of energy that helps us grow in obedience toward a full life.
When we treat the Word only as instruction, we risk becoming discouraged, because God’s standards are not easy to follow in a society that continually invents patterns, formulas, and methods focused on human performance in society rather than on the sovereign God who created all things.
The great challenge of the Christian life is to walk by the Spirit of God—that is, to act according to the Spirit who has given us life and freed us from the power of sin. This is a crucial matter for all Christians, not only new believers. Spiritual warfare is continual and unceasing. We are new creatures to whom the Spirit of God has given a new nature, but certain matters of the flesh remain, and we must entrust their resolution to the Spirit of God because they come from the corrupt and unrestrained nature we once had. Spiritual warfare exists because there is opposition, an adversary, an enemy whom we must keep at bay.
If we walk by (in) the Spirit, then let us check the reading on our “love meter,” because the state of our love (for God and for others) is the measure of our true spirituality in Christ. It is our law; it is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in this command: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14). For the Galatians, then, and for Christians today, the resource is the same: love.
Love shows that we walk in the Spirit, that we have new life, that we have fullness of life. A full life is joy and peace as enduring states of mind in the Christian life. The Spirit is love; it is putting into practice the obedience of love, which blossoms as a voluntary act through the grace God has placed in our hearts by his Spirit. A full life is freedom to do what is good, what pleases the Lord, casting aside every desire to do evil. Understanding the doctrine of walking under the Spirit’s guidance is not enough; we must put it into practice every day, though we know it is not easy.
When Isaiah prophesied the Messiah’s reign, he declared: “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:2). This same Spirit dwells in us. Let us allow Him into those areas of our being where we still resist Him, and honor the One who died to give us life, full and abundant.
God bless you!