Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Galatians 5:25,26
My parents were great dancers. They first met at a dance. They were amazing together as they danced, hopped, spun together in harmony with each other. And, all the while, not bumping into or knocking others everyone in their path.
But when it came to their youngest son, he had the dreaded one-two combination: I was clumsy and had two left feet. Not only couldn’t I dance well, I couldn’t dance at all. I could never keep in time with the beat.
They tried to teach me. They did their best to pass the baton of good dancing onto the next generation. Eventually, it fell from patient instruction to yelling out the beat, “One – two – three. One – two – three. One – two – three.” Over and over they tried and tried but I just never got it.
Putting me on the dance floor was like one of those crashes at the Tour de France[1]. One poor guy goes down and starts this domino effect. One after another, people bump into one another, falling to the ground.
The only way for people to dance together without causing a disaster is to keep in step. When you keep in step, you can’t be doing your own thing. Because you know what the other person is going to do, you choose to stay in step with them.
Paul is telling the Galatian church that they individually and as a group need to stay in step with God the Holy Spirit. He is to lead, and they are to follow. He’s God and that makes him in charge.
After all, he started the relationship in the first place. He made us to be in step with him, each other, and his universe. But after we started dancing the way we wanted to, dancing against him and, we stumbled badly and fell.
But he didn’t leave us there on the floor. Jesus came and not only showed us how to dance with God, but paid the price for us to get back up and start dancing again with God our Father.
In order to stay in step with him, we need to live under the gentle guidance of his Holy Spirit living inside of us. We are to follow his leading. Follow his direction. Depend on his power.
Whenever we choose to be out of step with God, we show ourselves to be completely conceited. We’re in charge. We have the right to make our own choices, to dance any way that we want.
This conceit doesn’t just live inside of us. Oh no. It spills onto everyone and everything around us. And because we’re in charge, it doesn’t matter who we bump into or knock down onto the floor. And we really don’t care who they wind up tripping either.
Yes, our conceit will always, always, always provoke. In our conceit, we stick our finger in people’s face. We don’t just tell them; we demand to be in charge. We take our rightful place at the front and force everyone to get in line behind us.
How do people feel when they’re treated like this? They immediately become envious. They think, “What makes them so great? What makes them so hot? Who put them in charge?”
And then people take the next step in the downward spiral of envy. “I could do what they’re doing. Heck, who couldn’t? I’d be a lot better than they would. I should be in front. In charge.”
Now we real fun begins. Whenever you have more than one person thinking that they should be in charge, that’s when the fight begins. One insult after another is thrown. The insults get louder and more aggressive. One threat is met with another, more deadly threat.
There is only one way that this is going to end from a human perspective. And that’s with a fight. It may not involve hitting each other physically, but it’s a fight. There’s no other way to describe it.
The only hope we have is not in ourselves. Every hour, every day, we need to live by the Spirit. Letting God be God in our lives is the only possible solution to our envy.
Did you hear what I just said? Our envy. It’s not someone down the street. Someone on the other end of the pew. It’s not the people in that other denomination. It’s not the people that worship differently. Sing differently, Or even pray differently.
No, it’s our envy. You. Me. All of us. Envy is what tells us that it must be done our way. Envy let’s us say and do whatever we want. Envy puts us at the front of every line. Envy even lets us feel like we don’t deserve to be loved.
Now hear this. God says that he love you. Period. There is no escape clause. There’s no getting around the fact that he says that he loves you. And bring us back to himself, he sent Jesus to die for you.
To say or think that God doesn’t love you is just not right. As a matter of fact, you’re putting yourself above God. You’re saying that he’s wrong and that you’re right.
Is that any way to stay in step with God? Is that any way to dance with the one who love you?
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