Monday,
May 3, 2021
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the
results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful
pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts
of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild
parties, and other sins like these. Let
me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will
not inherit the Kingdom of God. 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. Since we are living by the Spirit,
let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let
us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
Galatians 5:19-26
There is an extreme contrast between the kind of life lived
which justifies or disqualifies one from an inheritance. Extenuating circumstances aside, the choice
to whom the estate will pass lies with the wishes of the one making a
will. Without a will, the heirs enter a
contest to divide the proceeds.
In the case of a kingdom an heir is validated by blood. In the case of God’s Kingdom inheritance, the
will was put in place at Calvary 2,000 years ago, but it was in the heart of
Father God even before creation. So,
concerning the Kingdom of God, the cross was the seal of promise affixed to the
will of God, laying down the terms of inheritance for the children of God.
In writing to explain (or remind) the believers in Galatia,
Paul has two shopping lists. The first
is living life as a hedonist, simply doing what you want without honoring
God. The second list is what God
will produce in your life when you commit that life to His will, an honorable
DNA of character and goodness.
The dividing line between the two choices for living is the
qualification point (or disqualification), as an heir,
rightfully participating in God’s blessing.
The analogy of earthly and heavenly kingdoms breaks-down (as
do all analogies) when held too literally.
There are marked differences between God’s Kingdom and, say, the British
Empire’s monarchy. A similarity for
inheriting in either depends on blood, and being born. For the Royals of the House of
Windsor, you’re in (or out) only so far as your ancestral blood line. That is dependent solely on the random
passing along of DNA. For the inheritors
of God’s Kingdom, it is also dependent on blood, that blood which pooled at the
foot of a cross on a hill in Jerusalem’s garbage dump, with the execution of
the Son of God. This blood is not passed
along genetically through a placenta, it is a choice to receive by applying to
the King in a prayer of surrender. That
prayer is a surrender to the will of God, which ratifies the forgiveness of
God, making that one who prays a child of God, and therefore, an inheritor of
the Kingdom of God.
A common misconception at this point is that you live a good
life, like Paul’s second list (love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, etc…),
in order to become eligible for inheritance status. But that’s false thinking, because that is earning
the status. If that were the case we
would have to completely ignore the concept of grace…which would invalidate the
cross. Grace is never earned. Even the definition of grace dismisses that
thinking, as grace is unmerited favor from God’s hand,
while earning is merited due, a
salary for your work.
The order is out of order there…rather, we
repent of our part in the first list (immorality, sexual sins, jealousy,
selfishness, etc…), and receive a grace-filled pardon…then
the life of the second list begins to take hold in our choices. God gives this also as grace, a gift to
overcome life on the sinful first-list level.
We do not live a good life to escape the bad; we nail the bad
life to the cross, and God gives us a grace-filled life to add to the goodness
of His Kingdom. We participate not only
by inheriting the Kingdom, but building it as well[1].
For You Today
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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