But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 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. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:18–23, ESV
Human sin abounds, and there never seems to be an end to how far it will cause us to go. Yet, in Christ, we have hope. Our faith in Christ shows us the depths of our depravity and offers everyone who believes a way out of the endless cycle. This does not mean that we will all live perfectly, but it will help us not to be controlled by the base desires of our hearts. Sin is addictive, and like every addiction, we cannot allow it any quarter in our lives and can do nothing more than take each day as it comes to avoid the sin that seeks to control us. Much of sin is centered in self-satisfaction and self-gratification, but our Lord desires for us to look to the other and think of them in all that we say and do. People are not to be used to fulfill our own needs, but in Christ, we are meant to seek to serve one another. We are meant to do that which will help better our communities and our world. When we love another, we may set aside some of our own concerns to help them with theirs. We will want to help them through their suffering or grief. We will desire to give them peace and comfort as we have received in Christ. The more that we work within the fruit of the Spirit, the less we will fall into the temptations of the flesh. It isn’t an act that can be done out of guilt or shame but is the key that frees us from the bondage of our past errors and allows us to breathe in the new life that we have been given from Christ alone. Here we find the freedom that comes by not being pressed by the law, for no law is necessary when we walk within the Spirit of God. In God, we are free.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.