By David ReayWednesday 14 Dec 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So, letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. (NLT)
One poet once likened the Holy Spirit to a saxophone solo blowing wildly into the night, a tongue of fire flickering in unrepeated patterns. He contrasted this to an earlier view he had of the Spirit. which likened him to a neatly structured symphony with no surprises.
The Spirit’s presence within does lead to life and peace, but it may not always feel like that. All followers of Jesus receive his Spirit when they receive him: it is a sort of package deal. But so many of us seek to tame this Spirit, to keep him well and truly chained so he doesn’t upset our well laid plans or our hunger for a neatly ordered life.
As an old saying goes, the Holy Spirit both comforts the disturbed, and disturbs the comfortable. There are times when he grants us sweet peace and contentment. There are other times when we shake us up and ushers us into an apparent whirlwind of chaos. He is no tame Spirit.
Letting him loose in our lives enables us to better follow Jesus; it is a mark of the fact we are under new ownership. But we need to fasten our seatbelts. The road to maturity and Christlikeness can be a very bumpy road.
Blessings
David