the Fourth Week after Easter
Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 5 of 5
Galatians 5:16-26
The Lord Jesus explains how to recognise if a work is of the flesh or of the Spirit (read Matthew 7:16-20; John 3:6). "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit." The fruits mentioned in vv. 19-21, then, can only come from a bad tree – the flesh. Moreover it is still within each one of us and still has the same dreadful possibilities. But if we are "Christ’s" (v. 24), there dwells in us another active power – the Holy Spirit. He gives us power to live (v. 25) and power to walk (vv. 16-25). He is contrary to the flesh (v. 17). He leads us (v. 18). He brings to maturity His own fruit, which it is impossible to confound with any other, the precious fruit of the vine, of which v. 22 mentions the nine choice parts – love, joy, peace . . . A tree, however, can be without fruit if all its strength is exhausted in useless suckers springing from its base. What does the gardener do in this event? He prunes these suckers to allow the sap to circulate freely in the branches which have been grafted in. This is the meaning of v. 24. "They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh" at their conversion. They have submitted by faith to the sentence of death on their whole nature (the wild tree has been cut in order to be grafted). Henceforth they have to judge its manifestations: passions and lusts. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (v. 25).
