“Now the Lord is the Spirit,
and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom”
(2 Corinthians 3:17)
Reflection:
The Holy Spirit brings about a transformation in our lives to the extent that we allow Him. His purpose is to make us (more) like Christ. It is a process from one degree of glory to another.
The Spirit sets us free from our bondage to sin and death – and our bondage to the law. Jesus was never enslaved by the law but served God freely and in love. He fulfilled the requirements of the law not because of an external obedience to the law but because that was the type of person that He was. He loved God with all His heart because He was like that. He did not steal because He was not like that – not because the law said so.
When the Spirit sets us free from the law His transforming work begins to change us in the same way. We become holy and moral because that is the way He is (trans)forming us. When complete we would not do the things that the law forbids even if the law did not exist. Just like Jesus. So we do not wear obedience externally like baubles on a Christmas tree – we display the fruit of the Spirit of God because that is the way that our characters have been, and are being, (re)formed.
It does not all happen immediately but is a part of our Christian journey. Some of it can be quite painful as like Paul we bewail the fact that
“I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do I do not do,
but what I hate I do”
(Romans 7:15)
We are growing into our new identity in Christ – day by day. We are learning to trust the Lord, let go of the things of the world, and embrace the new life that is already ours. And the more that we do so the more we begin to realise just how free He has really made us. I am free to be a person of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in all ways – and at all times.
Response:
The new me is waiting from me
Prayer:
Most Holy Spirit fill me with Your Light, and Life and Love that I might more fully be the person I am created to be. Amen.
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The Soaring Eagle 