Day 9. Second Principle of Freedom
Question 1
In the previous week, we learned the absolute necessity of Washing at the Cross, for without it, we remain in guilt, which drags us into wrong behavior. In this lesson, we will learn the second principle of freedom, which is “Walking by the Spirit.”
During my time of bondage to impurity, drunkenness, gluttony, and the resulting guilt and depression, it seemed my whole life revolved around gratifying the lusts of my flesh. It was all about the thrill, all about escaping into a fantasy world, all about experiencing fleshly pleasures. I ran to these pleasures for comfort, to alleviate boredom, and for many other reasons.
And this is captivity! The world calls it "addiction," but the Scriptures tell us that when we commit sin habitually, we are “trapped” (Isaiah 42:22), in “bondage” (Psalm 107:10–11), a “captive” or “slave” (John 8:34). If you will start using those words instead of "addiction,” it will help you grasp freedom!
This is why God must change our hearts, give us new desires, and cause us to begin to detest our previous life of self-gratification, for if He doesn’t, we will live and die in this captivity and darkness.
But there is a way to be entirely free from this slavery. It’s not by trying harder, promising to stop, deciding to be free, or working the program. The following passage tells us how to be free:
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Galatians 5:16-18