Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no
obligation to do what your flesh urges you to do. For if you live by its
dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death
the deeds of your flesh, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit
of God are children of God. 

Perhaps you are familiar with the idea of spring-cleaning? The windows are thrown open, allowing the fresh spring air to circulate through the house. It is time to work on purging junk, cleaning out those forgotten old dusty boxes in the back of the closet, and wiping away all those pesky cobwebs that accumulated over the months of inactivity. As you try and tackle it all at once, the task feels overwhelming. Most of us know the truth, if we had just taken the time to deal with these things when they entered the house, spring-cleaning wouldn’t be such a big endeavor. In the same way, if we learn how to sort through our spiritual and emotional issues as they come up each day, we wouldn’t find ourselves in situations where past hurts, old offenses, and
negative habits become huge hurtles, preventing us from moving forward.

Once we have done our big spring cleaning, what then?  It takes time for old habits to die. If we don’t want to keep repeating the spring-cleaning ritual each year, it would be
best to make the commitment to engage in daily cleaning. It takes anywhere from
40 to 60 days for your brain to form new neural pathways. During that time, you
must also be working on breaking up the old pathways. Essentially, this means
not only must you stop participating in old behaviors and beliefs, but you must
also engage in the process of replacing them with new behaviors and beliefs.

While you may have done the work of acknowledging behaviors and thinking errors, repenting, and making amends, the old patterns of the flesh are still present in us and require us to do the hard chores of removing them daily, or we may find ourselves stuck again, right back in our old frame of mind.  

So, what exactly do I mean by daily chores? You can think of it in the same way you think of your everyday house cleaning tasks, like washing dishes, folding the laundry, and sweeping the floors. It is maintaining a regular inventory of yourself where you ask yourself, “Why did I think this? Why did I say this? Why did I act like this?” By practicing a regular inventory, we can start to identify areas or patterns in our life that have become strongholds and work towards dismantling them. But we must do the work!

Romans 8:12-14 is a perfect reminder that when it comes to cleaning house, we must make it a daily chore. We are not under obligation to our old patterns, but instead we have a helpful tool for living in freedom and our new life, and that tool is the Holy Spirit. I have three questions I want us to consider:  What is our obligation? How
does the Spirit help us? What will this produce in our lives?

What is our obligation? The word obligation means to act or take a course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound.  Romans 8:5-7 says, “Those who are dominated by the flesh think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the
Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your flesh control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the flesh is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their flesh can never please God.”

Paul seems to be arguing that before we came into a relationship with Christ, we were obligated, or legally bound, if you will, to fulfill the desires of our flesh. We really had no choice but to carry them out. The desires of our flesh only led to death, both spiritually and physically.

The good news is that now we are “in” Christ. Our Spirit has been united, joined with Christ. We are “IN” Him. We are no longer bound to the flesh, even though we must coincide with it. So, what is our obligation? It is to completely put to death the old patterns of sin, which dominated and controlled our thinking and our actions. Notice, Paul doesn’t say put the flesh on standby (because you may need it later). He says put it to death. We are not to revisit it, again. Don’t even come to the grave site to remember it. I don’t think of this death as being something we should be mourning. Rather, this is a celebratory death. This reminds me of a scene from the movie Office Space, where the main characters take the old, worn out, hated office printer and, with much rejoicing, they demolish it. This is what we must do – demolish the flesh. The sin of the flesh no longer serves a purpose in our lives with Christ, and we no longer live to serve its purposes.

How does the Spirit help? Romans 8:9 &11 says, “But you are not controlled by your flesh. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you…  The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Paul reminds us we have the same power living in us that raised Christ from the dead! Can I ask you a question. Do you really believe that? Then act like it! You are unstoppable! So why aren’t you plugging into this incredible nuclear power plant inside of you? Here is the plan truth about how the spirit helps:

The spirit is always present in our lives because He lives in us.

The Spirit convicts us when we are going in the wrong
direction.

The Spirit empowers us to do what we must do.

The Spirit guides us in all wisdom.

The Spirit gives life.

The Spirit is our assurance that we have been adopted as a
child god.

Living in the power of the Holy Spirit is all about living in relationship with Jesus. It’s about learning how to obediently walk in step with the movement of God. Just like doing a dance, we must let Him take the lead. The more we surrender control over to God, the more the Spirit is able to empower us to be the hands and feet of God. 

What will this produce in our lives? When we practice daily chores, it gives space for the Holy Spirit to convict, to empower, and to guide us in and through our day-to-day
situations, helping us recognize our old ways of thinking and acting, as well
as giving us wisdom to think and act in ways that lead to life. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul gives us the famous Fruit of the Spirit. These are qualities and characteristics the Holy Spirit will produce in our lives when we make the space for Him to correct and guide our thinking and our choices. They are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The Fruit of the Spirit is a framework for us to use as we think through our day, to help shape the way we think about our interactions. Did I show love in this situation? What is stealing my peace? Was I patient towards this parson? Did I show self-control in that circumstance? I encourage you to try it. Think about a recent interaction you had that left you frustrated and ask yourself these questions, going through all the qualities
and characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit. I wonder what you will discover about yourself. The other day, I was joking with a friend of mine. However, he didn’t think what I said was funny. He looked me in the eyes and said, “I feel you are judging me, that you are being passive-aggressive about it.” It was not my intention to be judgy, or even to be passive-aggressive. Because I have been forgiven for so much, I try very hard not to be judgmental. News flash! I’m not perfect. It hurt me to hear my friend say this. My old response would have been to become defensive. Instead, I began asking the Holy Spirit to search my heart, to help me understand why I was acting as I did towards him. It was out of character for me. It wasn’t long before the Holy Spirit revealed the reason

I said what I did. It was because I had recently been struggling with the same thing and was projecting it towards him. I immediately explained this to my friend and apologized. When you do your daily chores, you allow the Spirit the space to help you recognize when you are living in the old patterns and why. Take some time every day to reflect on the thoughts and interactions you had throughout the day. Be present and mindful in each moment. Gather your thoughts and ask God to show you areas you need to improve, any areas you may need to make amends. When doing daily chores, don’t forget the blessings you received and the things you did right – for these are important for making new patterns in our lives. Remember, developing the Fruit of the Spirit takes time – maybe even a lifetime. This is why we must practice them daily. This is why we must always be ready to clean. The more we practice our daily chores, the more those old patterns and strongholds will be broken down. Praise the Lord, we are not under obligation to our old patterns, thoughts, and behaviors!