Galatians 5:22-26 Keep In Step With the Spirit!

Galatians 5:22-26  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. 

Let us keep in step with the Spirit, who continuously and emphatically reminds us of the demeanor and attitude of Jesus Christ, empowering us to walk in the light of the Lord.  The Spirit abides in us because of our faith in Jesus Christ and his works.  He reveals Jesus Christ to us; Christ is the light of the world and IN HIM there is no darkness at all.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the LIGHT of men.  The LIGHT shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.  (John 1:3-5)  The darkness in men and in the world is the result of sin and the resulting waywardness from God's perfect will for all life.  Even nature groans under the influence of the evil one, for he is the prince of this world.  We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE EVIL ONE.  We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.  And we are IN HIM who is true — even in his Son Jesus Christ.  He is the true God and eternal life.  (1 John 5:19-20)  But praise God, Jesus Christ has come into the world to break the authority of the devil and to deliver men from death to life, from darkness to light.  He has brought the life and the light of God to all who have placed their trust in the saving grace of Jesus.  We no longer stumble around as captives to the sinful nature, but we have been set free to bear fruit for the Lord because at the cross Jesus paid the price for our sins and made a way for us to crucify the old fleshly self and to rise by faith in newness of life.  

If we have acknowledged Christ as Lord, we now find ourselves abiding in Jesus Christ through faith, and we will also find the Spirit of God abiding within us, giving us spiritual life.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.  (Romans 8:11)  As we yield to God, our ears are opened to the voice of the Spirit.  His leading becomes familiar to us.  The purpose of Christ in us will be known to us as the Spirit teaches us.  We will become Christ's witnesses, his influence in the world.  The Spirit will orient us towards Christ's life rather than our own life.  He will urge us to put down our self-willed, self-oriented lives and to pick up the cross of Jesus.  He will show us how to immerse ourselves in a lifestyle governed by the Spirit.  Our lives will contain the fruit of the Spirit.  Notice the above passage says fruit, singular, not fruits.  Jesus and we our one: we are to display his life, his fruit, to the world.  The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of a Spirit-led life, a life fully immersed in God's perfect will.  This requires a death to the our fleshly pursuits and attitudes.  Self-oriented lives revolve around our needs, our desires, our plans for the future.  The Holy Spirit's unction is for us to live Christ's life more than our lives, to focus our energy, interests, purposes for living, on others, rather than exclusively on ourselves.  Our pursuit in life should be to reveal God's image to others; to bring glory to God by displaying his likeness.  The Sermon on the Mount reveals this focus very clearly, even to the point of loving our enemies, giving grace to the unlovely, the ungodly.  Jesus did not leave us a way of escape when He said: Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  (Matthew 5:11-12)  This is the nature of our Lord, One who would forgive even at the cross: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.  (Luke 23:34) 

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are not attributes we naturally display in every situation when we do not follow Jesus by the Spirit.  Yes, at times, all flesh reveals some or all of these attributes, for we were made in God's image.  However, revealing them outside of God's leading will be determined by the flesh: according to our physical, psychological, and emotional needs.  If I believe it is in my best interest to be kind to someone, I will provide a kindness, but only if it suits me.  Definitely, we will not seek to love our enemies or those who slap us on a cheek.  We will strike back or harbor anger and bitterness in our souls against them.  But Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount to be perfect as God is perfect.  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5:48)  Of course, this is impossible in the natural through our own strength.  The world is too much in us.  If you do not believe this, think about your driving habits.  How many of us never break the speeding laws?  How many of us love ALL OF YOUR ENEMIES, ALL THE TIME?  As you can see by the last two questions, we are not perfect.  We often avoid the laws of God, the laws of man, and the laws we set for ourselves.  We are natural lawbreakers.  Without laws, we would have chaos on Earth.  The Bible expresses clearly the nature of men:  As the prophet Isaiah said, like sheep we have all gone our own way, seeking what is right in our own eyes.  Most of the time, we do what is beneficial and good for ourselves, not for others.  But what is God's will for us?  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  (Philippians 2:5-7)  Jesus could have destroyed every adversary by placing his authority above all authority.  He could have made his life on earth one of ease.  But He didn't.  He became a servant to all.  We are to become servants by being servants of the Holy Spirit, following his leading in our lives.  We are to keep in step with him.  If we do, we will see more and more the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  Of course, our flesh will grumble, complain; say that it is not fair, we have only one life to live, we should live it for ourselves.  But Jesus says through the Spirit's voice, "If you humble yourself, my light will enter the room."  Then He will make a difference in that room, bringing peace and resolution to every heart.  Let him touch your heart today.  Let him use your life to bring his love to those who are waiting to be set free. 

Galatians 5:19-21 Jesus Sets Us Free!

Galatians 5:19-21  The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The acts of the sinful nature are obviously a problem for any society, for they defile the foundations of the home and the state.  Freedom in these areas of self-indulgence lead not to a cohesive society, but to a chaotic one.  These actions are impossible to tolerate very long because they are so destructive to relationships within the family, community, and country.  Such acts are defined as sin because their self-willed character is the opposite of God's nature of love, peace, and cooperation.  We, as Christians, are to look out for the betterment of others, to be servants to the world, to seek peace in every situation: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.  (Matthew 5:9)  The sons of God, the children of God, are peacemakers; they are not those who engage in achieving their own self-indulgent desires.  They are not those who bring a thorn of self-will into every situation, but they are those who bring an olive branch to the problem, seeking to restore relationships and to resolve problems.  Christians are those who reject the acts of the flesh and seek to obey the Holy Spirit, asking God to lead them on a better path, a more holy way.  Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth."  (John 14:15-17)  

Paul is writing this letter to believers in the church at Galatia, yet he finds himself compelled to list the acts of the sinful nature that Christians should know and avoid.  It would seem obvious that those people to whom he is writing would already know these deeds of the flesh and the need to expel them from their lives, but Paul sees fit to provide a lengthy list of sinful acts.  As fellow Christians, we must take heed to Paul's thinking, stop and consider his reasoning.  Paul was considering the power of sin.  He might have been thinking of the message he told to the church in Corinth when he wrote: So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!  (1 Corinthians 10:12)  None of us are strong in our own strength but in the power of the Lord.  The psalmist wrote: The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.  The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.  (Psalm 28:7-8)  The Lord is our strength, and He is able to keep us strong in him.  If we call upon him when we are tempted, He will deliver us from temptation and keep us strong in the power of his might.  Many scriptures tell of his power and his might.  But as James says, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  (James 1:22)  We must not simply hear the Word, we must do what it says.  We live in an age when temptations assail us in many forms, especially in the media and in electronics.  We must do what the Bible instructs and resist the devil, so he will flee from us.  Many of us have read the Bible and have scripture in our hearts and minds.  Most of us have heard countless scriptures.  None of that will help us unless we allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us and free us from the tempter.  This is why Paul warned the Christians at Galatia to avoid the acts of the sinful nature.  We are as they were: We know those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

We do well to remember that we do have an inheritance: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  (1 Peter 1:3-5)  This is our glorious hope, our eternal gift from the Father, through the Son, sealed by the Holy Spirit.  Satan knows we have this inheritance, and he would like nothing better than to cause us to sink into a life of debauchery and degradation to the point that we want to turn away from our Lord and Savior.  Therefore, we put on the full armor of God and we go forth as soldiers in the army of the Lord.  As soldiers, we are fully aware of the works of the flesh, but we are full of the Holy Spirit with our eyes on Jesus.  We stand shoulder to shoulder and declare with our brother, Paul: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:13-14)  If we are to fulfill the Lord's will, we must be sure of his calling.  We must know that we have been purchased with a great price.  When Jesus died on the cross to ransom us, He gave everything.  How can we give less?  When Jesus called his disciples, He said, "Come, follow me."  That remains his message today.  To those who are captives to sin, caught in the chains of the sinful deeds Paul listed for the Galatians, the Lord says, "Follow me, and I will set you free."  If anyone reading this breakfast is struggling with sin in any area, reach out to Jesus, and He will set you free right now, this very moment.  He understands, and He shed his blood for you.  Come to Jesus, child of God.  Come to Jesus!   

 

Galatians 5:14-18 Free to Love One Another

Galatians 5:14-18  You, my brothers, were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.  So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

In today's scripture, Paul does not just talk about the evil nature of the flesh, he describes our basic tendency to focus on ourselves, our wants and our desires instead of on what God wants for us.  This attitude is fleshly and destructive to spiritual growth.  Self-centeredness might be needed for survival in the natural world, but the sinful nature also can draw us easily away from doing God's will.  If almost everything we do or think is focussed on us, or even on our loved ones, we lose the reason for living as far as the Bible is concerned: to love others.  God is love and we are to reflect his love.  Jesus said: By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  (John 13:35)  Self-indulgence and self-centeredness do not reveal a loving God to the world.  Lives lived in a selfish vein seldom impact people with the understanding that there is a loving God to be worshipped and served.  For Christians, a fleshly life, based on what is good for me, will never please God.  In fact, we wear unrighteous robes if our lives are lived in that way because we are breaking God's royal commandment: The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself."  A lack of love and concern for others can sprout turmoil and conflict in our lives instead of the peace and gentleness the Spirit would want to bring into our relationships.  Rather than loving others as God desires, we might harbor anger and resentment toward others.  If simmering hatred develops in our souls, it can take hold of our personalities and affect how we see and treat others, people God loves.  Paul warns us about this attitude: If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.  When Paul teaches the church in Ephesus about putting off the old self and putting on the new self, he says, Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  (Ephesians 4:31-32)  We cannot say we belong to Jesus and continue to display the works of his enemy the devil.  By faith, we must live godly lives, full of the Spirit, showing the attributes of our Lord.

Paul wants the Galatians to remember they were called to be free.  We know we are free because Jesus our Lord said, If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.  (John 8:36)  Paul says, you do not want to use your freedom amiss by indulging your sinful nature.  As free men and women of God, you are called to love others: this is your purpose for living.  When we began our study of Galatians, Paul was so concerned about this church, he told them, But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!  (Galatians 1:8-9)  He went on to tell them that he did not seek to please men but to please God, so he was willing to bring this strong word of correction.  He wanted to know why these believers had begun in the Spirit and now were trying to become perfect through fleshly means.  The church is free to love one another, Paul is saying.  They are free to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.  They are free to take up the cross and follow their Lord.  But if they use their freedom to go back to serving their flesh, they will fall into a pit of sin and they will end up devouring each other and being destroyed by each other.  Paul never lost sight of this spiritual truth that he wrote to the Romans: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)  When Christians lose sight of our Lord and take our eyes off him, we lose our bearings so easily.  When we are led by the Spirit, we seek the things of God.  We follow Paul's admonition to the Philippians: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.  (Philippians 4:8)  When we think on these things, we obey the will of the Lord and we are not easily drawn into the snares of the enemy; we are not tempted to feed our fleshly desires.  We praise the Lord and remember all his benefits to us.

How many of us today as we have been reading this breakfast have thought about our own lives and the amount of time we spend on ourselves, time we could devote to serving the Lord and loving others as He loves them.  How many of us thought there are areas where we are abusing our freedom, taking advantage of the freedom God has given us, using that freedom mostly to our advantage instead of helping the less fortunate.  We all have room for the Lord in our lives, places where we can do more for him.  We can ask him to help us see the needs and give us the anointing to go in his name and minister to those needs.  This is not a message of condemnation, for we are not under law.  What we hear from the Holy Spirit as we are writing is an exhortation:  "Come a little closer my beloved children.  I have called you and given you a work to do for me.  There are people I want you to love and nurture in my name.  There are needs I want you to meet for my sake.  Go out and see the harvest."  When Jesus sent his disciples out, He was very clear about the need for workers.  He has not rescinded the call.  We must be ready to answer.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  (Matthew 9:37-38)    

Galatians 5:7 Run the Race By Faith!

Galatians 5:7  You were running a good race.  Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?  That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.  “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”  I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view.  The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be.  Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?  In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.  As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! 

Many of you have seen little waifs on television.  Little children without parents to take care of them, existing on the streets of the world, living lives of desperation and hopelessness.  We usually view them with disheveled, dirty, and tattered clothing, standing with bare feet on rocky streets, looking hungry and forlorn.  They are children with downcast faces, unwashed for many days.  There they stand in need: hurting, lonely, without hope of anything meaningful in life.  They are definitely on their own.  In the spiritual sense, they represent every one of us when we are outside of God's protection and saving grace: without hope, alone in a finite world, not having the proper clothing for an eternal existence, starving for food that satisfies, dead to God.  We are temporary in every way, marking time with meaningless activities, looking for answers to the wrong questions, never knowing the purpose of life.  Perhaps we are resigned to the definition of existence as being a composite of six elements, known as flesh, with an internal energy source made up of electrical-chemical impulses.  Is this what life is all about?  Is this the essence of living?  Standing almost naked on the corner of life, experiencing our limited exposure to what we can touch, see, hear, smell, and taste, without any hope of anything else.  Is that what it means to be human?  Is this truth we might ask ourselves?  Are we running a good race?  The psalmist wrote: Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.  (Psalm 39:6)

Thanks to the mercy of the Lord, the Galatians had found their purpose for living: You were running a good race, Paul said in their defense.  He had been pleased with the way they initially embraced the Good News.  They knew the God of creation through their faith in Christ's teachings and his works.  They were wearing the eternal robes of righteousness and looked for a glorious eternity.  The hopelessness of life had disappeared from them; the joy of life expressed through the Holy Spirit's work in them brought new hope for every day.  But now, Paul is concerned for them.  Instead of living by faith with the joy that God had given them through faith in Jesus Christ, they were attempting to return to the beggarly elements that affected their lives before they were saved.  They were trying to be better, more pleasing to God by their own efforts.  An example of that was their desire to be circumcised so that they would be more pleasing to God.  But Paul warns them their attempts to be better on their own discount the works of grace and purposes of God.  They are telling God his efforts are not enough.  They must also be involved in the washing and in the sewing up the holes of the old garments.  They are telling God that they can take the filthy rags and make them acceptable to him.  All of this is taking God's plan of grace and mercy away from him, substituting their plan of works, literally, putting new wine into old wineskins.  It won't work: the new life cannot be contained by the old life of works, our efforts.  Jesus said, "Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins.  If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.  No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”  (Matthew 9:17)  He knew that the old must pass away, so that all things could become new.  Paul told the believers in Corinth: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)    

Paul is very frank in his thoughts about those who are leading the Galatians astray.  He not only says their persuasion does not come from the one who calls you, but he goes on to say, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!  Otherwise, I wish they would make themselves eunuchs, castrated males, having no hope of offspring.  He is chiding them: if a little self work is good for salvation, go all the way, complete your own salvation by your own hands, cut off every vestige of unholiness.  Of course, he knows emasculating themselves is not their purpose for propagating the idea that men should be circumcised to please God.  They are preaching this doctrine to gain control in the Galatian community.  They want to erode Paul's authority with the Galatians by discounting his message of salvation by God's grace and mercy exclusively through faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul tells them very directly, that the lost waif status of human beings must be dealt with through the work of the cross.  No other power or authority can make new creatures of fallen mankind, who will wear the righteous robes of God, with an eternal purpose in their heart of serving and loving God forever.  The waifs now have a parent who will take care of them and never leave them nor forsake them.  He alone will be the loving Father who adopts them into the family, The All-Sufficient-One the El Shaddai where they can find succor in the midst of difficult lives.  Before Christ, these waifs were abandoned, hopeless, without eternal life; but because of Christ, new life surges through their bodies forever, and they will praise God for all eternity.  Yes, Christ is our righteousness.  As Paul wrote to the church at Rome: For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.  (Romans 3:22-27)  Amen!  Amen!    

Galatians 5:1-6 Love One Another!

Galatians 5:1-6  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  Mark my words!  I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.  Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.  You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.  But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. 

No tinkering allowed with God's unmerited salvation: no additional work, sanctification or sacrifice is needed to complete God's work of grace.  Jesus' work completed the task of salvation for mankind.  As Jesus proclaimed on the cross: “It is finished.”  (John 19:30)  Any other effort to enhance or to complete man's redemption in a different way is an anathema to God, for such attempts bring into question God's authority, judgment, and omniscience.  This man-centered attitude tells God his plan is not good enough or is corrupted or is lacking in some way and requires something else that we can provide through our human efforts.  This course, to tweak God's authority, was spawned in the Garden: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  (Genesis 3:1-5)  Of course, every effort to interfere with God's authority eventually leads to disaster: death and destruction, as it did with Adam and Eve's deception.  Grafting manmade plans into God's plans never succeeds; instead, the resulting disaster leads to bondage not freedom.  Rather than unshackling ourselves, our interjections into God's intentions places more chains around our feet.  Instead of jumping, running with joy, free in the sight of God; we shuffle through life, living under condemnation, full of sorrow, seeking desperately for peace through our continued self-efforts to please God.  Too often Christians, who do not understand the gift of salvation through faith in Christ, find themselves trying to control their lives through rules and regulations, constantly evaluating themselves on what they have done, not on what Jesus has done for them.  Such people fail to understand our inheritance.  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.  (Hebrews 4:15-16) 

Yes, those of us who know the grace of the Lord should walk by faith, trusting in the strength of Jesus to keep us on the right path.  But sometimes we get our eyes off the Lord.  We must remember that Jesus told the woman who was caught in adultery to, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  (John 8:11)  He tells this woman of the night to leave her lifestyle of sinning to find hope in a new way of thinking and living.  In Christ, she will find a life based on love and kindness, not on the dictates of the flesh and its wanton desires.  However for this to happen, her mind would require a complete transformation, from evil to good.  This is possible through Jesus.  When He tells the woman to leave her sinful life, He tells the people, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  (John 8:12)   Paul indicates what is good in his letter to the Philippians,  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.  (Philippians 4:8)  There is little room for fleshly desires or a lifestyle of debauchery when our minds are filled with good things, good intentions, good purposes.  However, minds, no matter how good they are, do not set people free from sin.  Positive, appropriate, clear thinking is good, but not the key to releasing us into being free in our spirits.  The key is our belief in who Jesus is and who we are.  Is He the redeemer or are we the redeemer?  Is He the complete work or does He need our work too?  We find our freedom, peace, and quietness in God alone; all else will fail us.  Paul says, But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.  Complete perfection will come after our last fleshly breath when we arrive at our final destination with the Father, in Christ--sinless, perfect, holy.  We all eagerly await that day, yet in our flesh we remain human.  In our human state, we must confess Christ our righteousness, our salvation.  

Do we have to wait for that day of perfection before we can be free, joyous, steadfast in our faith?  Do we have to live with q burden of condemnation or guilt because of our failures in the flesh?  No, we do not!  As Paul said, The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.  Faith in Christ disentangles us from the works of the flesh, whether good or bad.  Your good works or bad works do not override the completed work of Christ.  His righteousness IS our righteousness.  Our goodness or badness does not count for anything.  Jesus alone pleases God.  Some of your works might be judged by God as good, but they will not earn your favor before God's judgment seat, for the Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  When you stand before God's holiness, you must stand as a child of God because of God's mercy and grace.  As Paul wrote: But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  (Titus 3:4-7)  Now we know the love of God in us is the culmination of faith or the resultant of faith.  If we love Jesus, we will love people as well.  We will love because we have faith in God who is love.  So Paul says, the only thing that counts is FAITH, expressed through LOVE.  If we do not love freely, we do not have God.  God is love.  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  You are free to love, free to express God on this earth: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)  This is our hearts' cry!  We stand with John and proclaim: This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.  (1 John 3:11)  Bless you dear ones as you love one another.