Galatians 5:24-25 (AMP)
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.
25 If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]
Life is full of things to be cultivated, knowledge, wealth, health and much more but how many of us set out to cultivate spiritual potential? Regarding Christian service, everyone has a different potential. Our potential in service will vary with the gifts that God has given to us, and with the opportunities that come to us. But in Christian character, each of us has the same potential. The potential to be Christlike. We have the potential of producing a full harvest of the “fruit of the Spirit”. As we considered each of these qualities in some detail — love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, temperance—you may have thought, “such is beyond me”. Not so! That is your spiritual potential. You are potentially fruitful.
If we live in the Spirit—If we profess to believe a spiritual religion, let us walk in the Spirit—let us show in our lives and conversation that the Spirit of God dwells in us.
God addresses us according to our spiritual potential, that’s one of the reasons God allows us to face challenges that sometimes appears to be far beyond what we feel capable of.
And they that are Christ’s—All genuine Christians have crucified the flesh—are so far from obeying its dictates and acting under its influence, that they have crucified their sensual appetites; they have nailed them to the cross of Christ, where they expired with him. The inner life should rule the outer life and not indulge in rivalry and jealousy.
The Christian relationship with the Lord is based on individual life, not collective and not based on the church (that is another relationship) but all through scriptures, the Lord treats and recognise those whom He called by their spiritual potential: God addressed Gideon by his spiritual potential in Judges 6:12-13. The Lord is with thee—”The Word of the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. God chooses for His work those instruments which, during his operations in nature and providence, he has qualified for his purpose.
Would you dare to do a little personal assessment? What percentage of your spiritual potential are you exercising? How would you measure your fruitfulness? Can you see signs that you are moving toward Christlikeness? Have there been changed in your relationship with God, in your relationship with others, in your relationship with yourself, that would encourage you to believe that you are moving toward your potential? This is an important consideration.
Growth in the Christian life is growth in these very areas. The fruit of the Spirit
should be developing and maturing in our lives.
How much of the spiritual potential in being expressed in your Christian life? Are there evidence of Jesus Christ in your life? You need to reaffirm that beginning right now you will follow only the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit, and that you will depend upon Him to make you like Christ. The miracle to a Christ-like life will begin to become a reality to those who know you best. Your spiritual potential is not in where you are, who you’ve made yourself but in who God calls you.
Shalom