ODJ: Living in Tune

February 12, 2018 

READ: Galatians 5:13-25 

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves (v.16).

Though I haven’t spent much time playing it over the past twenty years, I still take out my violin every so often. I keep it stored in a temperature-consistent closet, safely enclosed in a velvet case. Even so, the small tuning fork I keep in the case has been needed on more than one occasion. The vibrations from the tuning fork create the tone I need to set my A-string pitch. I can then tune the other three strings and hear a true and resonant sound as I pull the bow across the strings.

Like an instrument needing to be tuned to a constant and unchanging pitch, our lives were created to be attuned to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Romans 10:10 reminds us that, through faith, we have been made right with God. But God is still transforming our soul and body into that reality, reshaping all of our habits and beliefs through the Holy Spirit to conform to God’s perfect will (Galatians 5:16; Romans 12:1-2).

Our old nature will always be at war with the presence of God in our lives (Galatians 5:17); and in our own strength, it’s impossible for us to triumph over our sin (vv.19-21). But God isn’t simply looking for well-behaved people. Holiness is about being a lover of God, not a rule follower (v.24). When faced with temptation, we have the choice to allow the Spirit to work in us or to disregard His counsel. As we hear His voice and obey, we demonstrate that we are His holy people and discover the freedom for which we were created (vv.1,13).

May we be a people who truly love God with all of our thoughts, intentions and hopes centred on the object of our affection. Then we’ll be a living orchestration revealing the beauty of His holiness (vv.22-23; Psalm 29:2).

—Regina Franklin

365-day plan: Exodus 16:1-36