Lazy River

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:16-26 (day four)

My favorite attraction at water parks is the lazy river. There’s something blissful about sitting back and letting the current send you slowly drifting down the stream. Sometimes the river is so lazy that you’re hardly aware it’s moving you, until you look up and realize you’ve gone further than you thought. This is all well and good on vacation, but when the same thing happens to us spiritually, it’s a very different story. The natural flow of life does not lead toward righteousness. There are times when life is busy or we’re distracted by the things of the world, and we find ourselves in the lazy river, slowly drifting towards unrighteousness without even realizing it.

At first we may think, “well, it’s not so bad, I haven’t drifted that far.” Soon, though, we look up and realize we’ve slowly gone a lot further than we thought, and this depiction of fleshly deeds is starting to sound a lot like us. It may not be all at once, but the rhythms of the world will always lead to a life of destruction.

But when we begin catching the rhythms of the Spirit, things start to look different. When we encounter the Holy Spirit, God lifts us up out of our lazy drift and sets our feet on solid ground, leading us into all truth. As we walk in that truth we begin to see the fruit of the Spirit ripen in us. This leads us to the question, then – how do we keep in rhythm with the Spirit? What practices help you walk by the Spirit rather than drifting into the rhythms of the world? Is there a new spiritual discipline you’d like to try as you continue to see fruit grow in your life?

That lazy river may seem appealing now, but the fruit of the Spirit is too sweet to miss.