Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Preparing the Temple of the Holy Spirit : Reactions


So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5.16
Did you know that our reactions before people´s comments, situations, and people in general, reflect what is inside of us?
How so? In our every day life we are surrounded by situations that we did not plan for. We are sometimes presented with comments that we did not see coming. Sometimes these things come up so fast, that we have to speak or react instantly. But the question is, what has been your first reaction in those situations?
For example, when you are driving on the freeway, and suddenly someone cuts you off, what is the first reaction? Do react with your flesh and get filled with rage, curse at the person, make hand gestures? Or do you react in spirit by being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry?
Or, a common example, when a person says or does something towards you that is offensive, what is your instant reaction? Normally, those in the flesh will allow their feelings to take over. So, the person feels sad, angry, hurt and then if the person is not watchful, a whole bunch of thoughts begin to bombard your mind. You respond back with comment or gesture. You begin to gossip and complain about this person to others. You start making all of these assumptions, that the person has a problem with you, they mistreaed you, they have an attitude problem, etc. All of these thoughts begin to unfold leading to bad eyes, a wall between you and this person, and finally, you feel bad spiritually. All because your first instinct was to see a situation with your fleshy eyes.
However, those who react by faith, in other words, with their intelligance, analzye the situation before making any judgment. For example, in the same scenario, the person reacting by faith stops and thinks that maybe the person is going through a situation, maybe the person spoke or did something that was not their intention, etc. By reacting in spirit, the person neutralizes any arrows that the devil throws at her, which leaves no space for bad thoughts, bad eyes, nor a stained heart.
This is something very important before God and the best example of this was the Lord Jesús. When he was being arrested in Gethsemane, what was the Lord's reaction?
He did not react by saying: Whats wrong with you soldiers!? I am about to die for all of you to be saved and your treating me this way! No. The Lord Jesús remained calm and with all love, even helped one of the soldiers that was arresting him by restoring his ear. His reaction demonstrated that inside of him was a true and unconditional love for the people. In the same way, how you react reflects what truly is inside of you. You can go to church,  evangelize, be part of a group, but it is WHO you are, WHAT is inside of you that counts before God which is reflected in your reactions.
Self check:
Have my first reactions been in spirit or in flesh?
Have I reacted with my  faith or emotion?
 How do I overcome this? As the verse says above, by walking in Spirit. In other words, by being in communion with God during the day. Today, Wednesday we will be seeking the Holy Spirit. If we seek a new heart, surely our reactions will be different.
 Let´s prepare the temple of the Holy Spirit, by getting rid of these fleshly and emotional reactions!  

No comments:

Post a Comment