“Why do I need to have God in my life? As long as I don’t hurt other people, why can’t I just do as I please?” That’s what more and more people are coming to believe. They want to find a middle ground between submission to the authority of Christ and the kind of wicked depravity they see increasing in the world all around us. In short, they want to remain in charge of their lives, picking and choosing the parts of different theologies and philosophies they want to believe and practice.

But the reality, as Paul points out in today’s passage, is a lot more like buying a car than like browsing a buffet. Just as you can’t get the premium stereo without also paying for the in-dash navigation system, spiritual blessings or curses come as part of a package. If you live according to the self-centered flesh, you get verses 19 through 21. If you belong to Christ, you get verses 22 and 23. You have to pick one or the other, and you can’t mix and match.

That’s why, no matter what the Romantics continue to insist, you can’t get peace and love by living a fleshly, selfish life marked by immorality, impurity and sensuality. And thousands of years of human experience have confirmed that Paul is right: the pursuit of selfish pleasure always leads to enmities, strife, jealousy, and outbursts of anger. A life focused on gratifying the self always ends up setting us at odds with other people.

On the other hand, someone who is motivated by genuine love for others, someone who is focused on the needs of others rather than the desires of the self just won’t have time for drunkenness or carousing, and certainly won’t hate or envy those they are trying to serve and bless. No, when we truly love someone we are always patient and kind and faithful toward him or her, aren’t we?

So, since life is a package deal, which would you prefer? Or more precisely, as Paul says in verse 17, which of two opposite sides will you take today? Will you serve yourself? Or will you walk in the Spirit and freely follow the Law of love?

Galatians 5:1-26 (ESV)

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.
3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.
11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.
12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.