Traveling with Jesus

“When walking by the Spirit the results are celestial: ‘Ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh’; ‘So that ye cannot [when walking by the Spirit] do the things that ye [otherwise] would.’ ‘If ye are led of the Spirit ye are not under the law’; and ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance’ (self-control).” He That is Spiritual, L. S. Chafer.

The world looks to something in achieving all this; it is called character. A lot of time, effort, training, and self-repression are sought after in the pursuit of this word called character. The Christian however, has the ability to become that person of character by following the Spirit’s leading in their life. For the carnal man though, it is an insurmountable task, and becomes what many have said in the era of the Bible as a “hard saying.” As Chafer tells us, the difficulty with obtaining this character (or fruit of the Spirit), is a little word called “doubt.” He states that doubters have trouble with this and consider the task unreal and that it is not God’s gracious provision for His children. He further states; “The revelation that true Christian character is directly produced as a fruit of the indwelling Spirit stands on the pages of God’s Word. Clear statements are made and the Bible teaching on this subject is direct and uncomplicated. Not only so, but there many who are joyous witnesses that it is a reality in their personal experience.”

But these things do not come over time and any real Christian will tell you that he/she has not attained any one of these attributes in full potential in their entire lifetime. These victories begin small and sometimes unnoticeable to the one who is practicing the following of the Spirit of God in their life. In fact I have also noted a young man whom I am discipling who has no idea of the changes I have seen in his life over the last year of spending time with him. I even had to mention it to him one night after one of our sessions in the Word. He had no idea of how God is molding him into something he never expected, and I am thankful to see the Lord making those changes within his life, and allowing me to see them first-hand.

The walk of a Christian is not for wimps. In fact, it is so much easier to take the easy road and travel back to where you have been already. Why; because the road is already known and we know what to expect. That is called experience, but it is not character. Experiences can be bad as well as good. But the road that travels into new territory is always so much more exciting than going where you have always been. That is the exciting thing about traveling the road where the Spirit of God is leading. And He blesses us as we follow!

I leave you today with one small illustration from my life: In 2008, I had a chance to travel to Germany with my son by German rail. It was exciting to see the countryside pass by and see all the new sights. I remember as I sat like a child watching everything go by in wonder as I tried so hard to take it all in. It was a so much fun! In 2016, my wife and I took another trip to Germany by German rail. As we left Basel, Switzerland headed back into Germany, I again sat and watched the countryside go by in awe, trying once again to take in all the sights. When we got back into Germany on areas I had previously traveled with my son in 2008, I found myself doing something else because let’s face it; I had seen it all before. This is much like where God wants to take us in our walk with Him. He wants to always look to Him in great anticipation as to where we are going and to some place new. He wants us to try to take it all in. Otherwise, being in the same place we have been before gets a little uninteresting and boring. We could have taken a flight from Basel to Germany, but then all you see are clouds. We might have gotten there quicker, but missed so much along the way. This is the way our lives should be. I have a quote in my home which says, “Enjoy the journey, not the destination.” Let the Spirit of God do that!