Got the Gimmies?

Galatians 5:13-18 (NIV) You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

Here I am again in Paul's letter to the Galatians. In this NIV translation, the Greek word "carnem" (and its derivatives) is translated as "sinful nature." In the more literal translations like the NRSV, it is translated as "flesh." It refers to our worldly desires, a listing of which follows this week's passage. Aren't these all just the "gimmies?" — Gimme more pleasure? Gimme more stuff? Gimme more freedom to do what I want?

When I get the "gimmies" I know I am being attacked by temptation. I am desiring freedom all right — freedom away from God. God and the gimmies are diametrically opposed to each other — as different as fire and water. When I am heading towards worldly desires I am heading away from Him … and away from His power to help me.

It is way too easy to go from here into the darkness of guilt and shame. But there is strong loving message here. The power against the gimmies is in living by the Spirit, not in condemnation. The power against the destructive fire of desire is the refreshing renewing Living Water of Jesus. Praise God for that! Get out your firehose, Lord, I need a good soaking!

When feeling the tug of the gimmies, I have found it helpful to delay the gratification of that desire long enough to start feeling empty. When distracted away from God, I can usually find the strength to stand for a moment and avoid taking that first step. In that moment, as the temptation tugs at me, I feel a void. And in that emptiness, I pray a simple prayer "Lord, fill this hole with Your love." Replacing a worldly desire with a thirst for God produces power over temptation.

I cannot remember a time when that prayer has gone unanswered. My problem, of course, is finding the strength to stop and say the prayer in the first place.

And even though I preached "delayed gratification is good for you" to my children (starting before they could possibly know what it meant), I fully understand that the delay — the fasting to the point of emptiness — to be the hardest step. A part of me has to die before I can become fully alive. Each time I empty myself of a worldly love, I make more room for my love for Him. And the more I am filled with His love, the more I can truly begin to love my neighbor.

Growing in Christ is all about growing in Love. But that is not the endpoint, for as Paul points out later in verse 25 (KJV) "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." If I am filled with the Spirit and hoard it, it will rot. I need to get up off my backside and spread it around. I need to get up and serve the world with Love — to show up each day available and eager to do His will.

As this passage proclaims, I am called to be free:

… free to obtain all my self-nourishment from the rich sap of His vine
… free to watch the fruit of the spirit pop out effortlessly as a result
… free to become everything I was created to be
… free to help Him each day with His plan for the redemption of humanity

What greater joy could there be than that?! What am I waiting for?

It appears to me that thirsting for that Joy is where a full life in Christ begins. And my continued thirst is what keeps me walking in His direction and away from the gimmies.

Lord, I pray for all of us facing temptation this week. You know this is a lifelong struggle for us. It is something we are bombarded with every day. Lead us away from temptation and into Your loving arms. Lead us in the ways of the Spirit who is within us. Amen.