GALATIANS 5:25

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

TO PONDER

I'm not much of a dancer. I always feel clumsy and awkward when I am reluctantly dragged onto a dance floor at a wedding reception and I usually take the first opportunity to sneak back to my table. However, I do appreciate watching the skill of those who have made dancing their craft. Whether it be a ballroom dancing competition on the TV, a hip hop/break dancing routine on a YouTube video, a tap number in a musical performance or something else in between, there is something beautiful and impressive about the control and confidence with which these people move to the music.

I sometimes think this is a good way to picture today's reading. This verse is often translated as "Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step the Spirit". Yet the verb used for 'walk in step with' is not simply the word for walking, it has more to do with military manoeuvres and marching in formation, keeping alignment and staying in sync with others. In other words, follow the steps of the dance which the Holy Spirt is marking out for you.

Just like a beautifully executed dance routine, a life lived in step with the Holy Spirit of God is also something beautiful to behold. Perhaps you have had the privilege of knowing someone whose life regularly aligned itself with the word of God and the prompting of his Holy Spirit. If you have, I'm sure you would agree that having such a person in your life can both encourage and inspire you to seek a life more 'in step' with the Spirit.

And that is God's will for all of us. Not simply that we would see that kind of life in others and envy it, but that we would be inspired to emulate it. That it might stir in us such a great desire to have the same beauty and oneness with God in our own lives and that through that, others might also be drawn into the dance of a life lived in step with God.

Here's the challenge though. The Holy Spirit dances to a different beat that the rest of the world. Sometimes living in step with the Spirit can feel awkward and clumsy because we recognise that we're not following the same beat or steps as those around us. The trick is to not let that stop you, trust the choreography that God has set out for your life - those are the steps that will lead you into the fulness of life Jesus promised and a life filled with the presence and purpose of God is a wonderful thing indeed.

PRAYER:Holy Spirit of God, Helper and Advocate, I ask that you would help me to live my life in step with you. Please help me to see the steps you are leading me in, help me to avoid the missteps and off-beat of the world around me and make my life a beautiful witness to the redeeming work of Jesus' life, death and resurrection in me. Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle