I am a Jesus pusher!!! “Blessed are the meek,” (Matthew 5:5). In the Book of Galatians, Paul highlights our freedom in Christ. False teachers attempted to present “Jesus plus” Christianity. They wanted to add laws to Jesus. They taught that Jesus died to save us, but there were additional items needed to make salvation complete. Paul would not accept this premise. We are “in Christ” and that is sufficient. As Paul comes to chapter five of his presentation, he parallels living in the flesh with living in the Spirit of Jesus. As the nature of the flesh sources an individual in their helplessness, all of the characteristics of self-sourcing appear. Self is denying its poverty. Flowing from this life dependent on itself is hatred, envy, selfish ambitions, dissensions, and the like.
Both self-sourced and Spirit-sourced individuals are equally helpless. The picture of the Spirit-sourced individual is altogether different. The nature of Jesus fills him. He lives in the strength of the Spirit not in the weakness of the flesh. He embraces the sourcing of Jesus. The nature of the Spirit of Jesus is now manifested through his life. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (meekness), self-control (Galatians 5:22, 23). This is impossible without the sourcing of the Spirit. Jesus calls this the “kingdom of heaven.” He fills our helplessness with Himself. I am a Jesus pusher!!!