Scripture — Galatians 5:16-18 (NRSV)

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.

Devotion

When it comes to the matter of managing our hungers, the New Testament letter of Paul to the Galatians accentuates the role of the Holy Spirit in this activity. Paul understood that every person who is “in Christ,” someone we would call a Christian, has the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9-11). Once we accept God’s grace given through Christ, the very Spirit of God dwells in us to enable us to become more like Christ and to empower us to do the ministry of Christ.

Yet the Spirit does not control us like some all-powerful heavenly puppeteer. Rather, when we are in Christ, we have the opportunity to allow the Spirit to guide us, empower us, and transform us.

This spiritual work is relevant to our hungers, or as we might rather say, our desires. Galatians 5:16 says, “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” “Flesh” in this case does not mean “humanity” but “sinful humanity.” The “desires of the flesh” are not all human desires, but rather those that are “opposed to the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17).

I’ll have more to say about these desires and what they lead us to do in tomorrow’s Life for Leaders devotion. For now, however, I want to examine Galatians 5:16 more closely. In the NRSV it reads, “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” This translation features two parallel imperatives: 1) Live by the Spirit, and 2) Do not gratify the desires of the flesh. Yet the usually reliable NRSV fails, in my opinion, to convey the sense of the original Greek. Virtually every other trustworthy English translation renders the Greek differently, giving us one imperative followed by one result. The NIV, for example, reads, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (5:16, NIV, emphasis added). You’ll find a similar rendering in these translations: CEB, NLT, Message, and ESV. Even the classic King James Version reads, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (5:16, KJV).

Why am I making such a big deal out of the translation of Galatians 5:16? Because there’s quite a difference between two imperatives (live + do not gratify) and one imperative with a promise (live + you will not gratify). This isn’t just a matter of getting the words right. It’s also a pastoral and personal concern for me. I know so many Christians, including me, who have tried hard not to gratify our fleshly hungers, but with limited success because we put maximum effort into the negative work of not gratifying our hungers. We put far less effort into the positive work of living in the Spirit. This kind of spiritual living, as it turns out, is crucial to not gratifying our sinful desires. How different our lives might be if we focused our energy on living in the Spirit, which, according to Galatians 5:16, is what enables us not to gratify our fleshly hungers, rather than trying harder and hard to overcome those hungers in our own strength.

In yesterday’s Life for Leaders devotion, I explained how the Spirit of God enables us to see our inner lives clearly, including our various desires. In this way, the Spirit helps us manage our hungers. Today we see that the Spirit offers something more. Through Christ, we are able to “live by the Spirit.” The Greek reads more literally, “walk by the Spirit.” Verse 18 helps us understand part of what walking by the Spirit includes. It’s being “led by the Spirit” in every part of life, including our daily work and leadership.

Of course, much, much more could be said about what it means to live in or walk by the Spirit of God. In fact, I’ll say a bit more about this in tomorrow’s _Life for Leaders _devotion. What I want to emphasize today is that the management of our sinful desires is a matter, not mainly of trying not to do certain things, but rather of focusing on doing something positive and life-giving. We will be enabled to manage our fleshly desires when we live in an intimate, intentional, continual, and growing relationship with the Spirit of God.

I expect that some readers are at this point asking, “How can I live my life in the Spirit?” I don’t have space here to offer a satisfying answer to that question. But I will suggest a simple starting point. Ask the Lord to help you! Tell God that you would like to walk by the Spirit. Explain that you aren’t quite sure what this means. Ask God, indeed, ask the Holy Spirit, to lead you, teach you, form you, and empower you. That’s a fine place to start.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project’s online commentary. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Life in the Spirit (Galatians 5:13–23).

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