Galatians 5

Paul is trying to persuade the church to live by faith and walk by the Spirit, not surrendering again to the bondage of the law. His chief argument in this chapter is the impotence of the law to bring about any lasting change. The Spirit, on the other hand, brings victory.

Four ideas I love:

• All that matters is faith working through love (Galatians 5:6). Nothing else matters. Nothing else represents freedom or virtue. What a simple summary of Christian ethics.
• Walk by the Spirit and you will not (literally) bring to completion the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16). You may be tempted. You may think about starting down that road, but the Spirit keeps you from finishing!
  
• The flesh is opposed to the Spirit. This would make it hard to live life with a foot in both worlds. (Galatians 5:17).
• Of course, I need a big harvest of the fruit of the Spirit in my life (Galatians 5:22-23). These are things God's Spirit produces in my life not things I work at, hoping to improve a little in one of these areas.