Devotion
•
The Promises of God: Part CCXCIV
Author
Timothy Laughlin
Published
Sep 02, 2025
Tags
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:13-18
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:13-18
Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death to walk and be led by the Holy Spirit. For one to walk in the Spirit, the flesh, or old man has to die. Baptism is our death, burial, and resurrection to walk in newness of life and put off the deeds of the flesh.
Living a Spirit-led life is not easy; there is a raging battle going on between the Spirit and the flesh. It's like conjoined twins; one struggles to walk in the Spirit while the other wants to obey the lust of the flesh. The apostle Paul said, "O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?"
There may be a distant reference here to the dreadful punishment of the ancients of chaining the living body to a corpse, that the constant corruption of death might extinguish the life of the victim of this exquisite torture. This is how severe it becomes when we don't destroy this body of death called flesh!
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
Your servant in Christ, Timothy Laughlin
Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Related Writings
Contact us
If you have any questions about our writings or the ministry, please let us know below.
We will not share or sell your information.
P.O. Box 162932
Fort Worth, TX 76161