But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 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 prevent you from doing what you would. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissention, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.
Galatians 5: 16-23
Today begins a unit on the Fruit of the Spirit. On weekdays, we will explore this topic for the next couple of months. On weekends, we will continue with reflections on the Sunday Epistles and Gospels, and on feastdays we will also reflect on those Gospels.
We’ve all had the experience of coming to a fork in the road. It might have been a literal fork in the road, where we had to choose one of two ways to travel. Or, more likely and more often, it is a figurative fork in the road, where we have to make one of two decisions. And for Christians, many times, this fork in the road is a decision between something Christian or something unchristian, between doing something that pleases God or something that will disappoint Him, between doing something virtuous or something sinful.
Saint Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians, categorizes our two choices as “works of the flesh” and as “fruit of the Spirit.” The two stand in opposition. We can’t cultivate both at the same time. We can’t cultivate fruit of the Spirit while also cultivating the works of the flesh. For as St. Paul writes “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 prevent you from doing what you would.” (5:17)
In life, we can’t be both disciplined and undisciplined. We can’t both work hard and be lazy. We can’t be both honest and dishonest.
And we can’t just “be.” We are either cultivating fruit of the Spirit or works of the flesh. We are always cultivating something. There is a battle between these two things for supremacy in our souls.
In a sense, we all live double lives. Anyone who is a Christian has at least some inkling of the fruit of the Spirit—there is some love, some joy, some peace, some goodness, some degree of faithfulness in every person. And likewise, even the strongest of Christians wall fall to at least one of the works of the flesh—strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension are things we will all fall to. Notice also that St. Paul concludes the verse on the works of the flesh would the phrase “and the like,” meaning that the works of the flesh are not limited to what he has written. Greed, egotism, power, lust, gluttony, laziness and many others can be added to the list of things that prevent us from cultivating the fruit of the Spirit.
In our lives, there is a very real battle for supremacy in our souls. The fruit of the Spirit battle against the works of the flesh for supremacy of our souls. Who we allow to win governs our earthly lives, and also paves the way to eternal life. In the Orthodox Church, we offer a petition at every Divine Liturgy, “And let us ask for a Christian end to our life, peaceful, without shame and suffering, and for a good defense before the awesome judgment seat of Christ.” The fruit we cultivate set up either a “good defense” or a poor one for when we stand before Christ for judgment on where we will spend eternity. The challenge of life is to cultivate the fruit while staying clear of the works of the flesh. And this is a daily battle.
Over the next few weeks, we will examine each of the nine “Fruit of the Spirit,” and talk about practical ways to grow them in our hearts. I am not going to write “against” the works of the flesh, but “for” the Fruit of the Spirit, because when one is filled with the Spirit, he is able to suppress the flesh.
I close today’s reflection with a Cherokee Indian legend that matches closely with today’s passage from Galatians:
An old Cherokee was teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil—he is anger, envy, sorry, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good—he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The same fight is going on inside you—and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
And so it is in our Christian life. Which will grow more in you—the works of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit? The answer is, the one you cultivate more.
Lord, thank You for the gift of today. In this day, I know that I will have opportunities to cultivate both works of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit. Help me to think and to pray at every “fork in the road” today, to slow down my thoughts so that I can focus on what is right in your eyes and make good decisions. Give me the discipline to suppress the desire for the works of the flesh and guide my mind and my heart to desire the fruit of the Spirit. Amen.
Slow down and think and pray as you make your decisions today.
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