Galatians 5:2-15

Be Still: Lord, I give this day – and this moment – to you. Help me turn my attention from life’s distractions and towards you and your presence. (Pause... close your eyes and.... breathe.) Come, lead me, and guide me today. I invite you into the depths of my heart. Amen

Read: Galatians 5:16-26

‘So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.’ (v16) 

Encounter: We recently got a new piece of exercise equipment at home that uses AI to track your form (i.e. specific, correct way of performing a movement) and then offers feedback on how to improve. It’s been a game-changer, because anyone who’s trained knows this: you don’t improve by lifting heavier or running faster if your form is wrong. Get your form right, and everything else begins to follow. 

Spiritual growth – living in Christ’s freedom – is much the same. Growth doesn’t come from trying harder; it comes from walking better. The Spirit doesn’t ask us to lift heavier; he invites us to walk differently. To change our form. 

That kind of spiritual ‘form’ isn’t about perfection or constant self-monitoring. It’s about presence and dependence. Learning to walk attentively with God. Noticing the patterns of our lives, listening for the gentle promptings of the Spirit, and allowing him to guide small adjustments in how we think, act, and respond. Over time – slowly and steadily – change happens. 

Eugene Peterson said, ‘There is a way of life that is hurried and frantic, and there is a way of life that is relaxed and trusting.’ This is what walking by the Spirit looks like. No striving. No frantic effort. Just a daily, trusting walk with God – step by step, moment by moment.

Apply: Where in your life do you find yourself striving? The transformation you work for may be good and God-honouring, but perhaps the pressure and effort you’re carrying aren’t. Ask the Spirit today to free you from striving, to lift the burden, and to gently guide you into a better way of walking with him. 

Devote: Spirit of God, come and lead me. Quiet my striving and calm my heart. I don’t want to take a step where you haven’t already gone before. Teach me to walk with you, trusting you to shape my life.