David Bahn – Reflections

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

We were at a learning community gathering with the St. John staff. The conference was all about discipleship, specifically, building a discipling culture. We all agreed that focusing our efforts on building a unified, aligned, and concerted discipleship effort for our church was a great idea.

Then Jon spoke up. “We need to be intentional,” he said. That really got my attention. He was right. In other words, it’s not enough to do business as usual with little thought or effort at intentionally pursuing the Great Commission. We need to be intentional.

For the seven months after graduating from university, I worked in a brick factory. All I did all day long was handle bricks. Four at a time, for the most part. Two in each hand. Moving them from the conveyer belt to a jig. Banding the stacked columns of bricks with a metal band and watching as the fork lift came and took the bale to another part of the factory. I mostly did this mindlessly. All I thought about was getting through my 8 hour shift and going home to soak my hands in hot water (to relieve the pain), eat dinner and go to bed so I could get up the next morning and do it all over again. It wasn’t quite Groundhog Day, but it was close.

Diane had a sign on her wall when she served as music director at our previous church. “You must not saunter nonchalantly into the presence of God,” it read. A good reminder for us when it comes to worship. Going to church should be more than a thing we do. We must remember that we are entering into the presence of God. We need to do that intentionally.    

If God is only a slice of our life’s pie, then we can relegate being intentional about our faith to one day a week, or even one or two hours of one day a week. But God is with us 24/7. His goodness, mercy, faithfulness, and grace is with us at all times. We don’t rightly live as Jesus’ followers part time.

That’s where that “I” word comes in. If we are full time followers of Jesus then let’s live intentionally as such. That’s what Paul is saying here, when he says, “Walk by the Spirit.” Intentionally forgive. Intentionally offer grace and truth to those in your life. Intentionally resist temptation. Intentionally turn back to Jesus when we stumble and sin.

The Holy Spirit is intentionally leading us to Jesus. His fruit is beautiful and enriching for the one bearing it and the one receiving it. Sometimes it just happens. More often we need to be intentional about walking with the Spirit. Whenever it does happen we are blessed and there will be opportunities to bless others…if we are intentional about it.