Good Guys Wear White Hats

Galatians 5:19-26

　
　
Do you wear a white hat or a black hat?

When I was growing up I loved watching westerns. It was always the good guys versus the bad guys with the good guys wearing white hats. The hats helped you to tell the difference but it was pretty obvious who was on the side of good and who was on the side of evil. Life was simple then, but as I got older I discovered that things weren’t so black and white.

There is a spiritual battle going on in the world – the good guys versus the bad guys. Paul wrote about it in Ephesians, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil". This makes it sound like it is all out there some where, but we know it isn’t.

We know this because Paul wrote in Romans, "So I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me". Paul struggled with sin in his life. We know the spiritual battle is within us also from our own experience because we struggle with sin in our lives. What is Paul’s answer to this? "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh".

In this passage he gives us a list of behaviors that are acts of the flesh and another list that is the fruit of the Spirit. The temptation is to make these lists into rules. Thou shalt not do this. Thou shalt do that. But that is exactly the kind of thing that Paul is battling with the Galatians.

Consider verse 24: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires". The fact is that if you have accepted Christ, if you believe in him and trust in him, if you belong to him, then your sinful nature has already been crucified. It is a done deal.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t have struggles or don’t sin. It does mean however that as we live by faith and by the Spirit, that we run the good race of following Him. What we strive for is to walk by the Spirit and for his fruit to be evident in our lives. Then we won’t need a white hat for other people to tell that we are one of the good guys.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians%205%3A19-26&version=NIV;MSG
http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Gal.5.19-Gal.5.26