Walk in the Spirit

It occurred to me recently that the health of the church is not best measured by church attendance or financial giving but in personal holiness.  The sanctification for Christ of each individual member does a great deal to provide strength and fruitfulness in the church.  The whole church is comprised of many individual members, and our connection to Christ as our head (individually and corporately) places us in a humble posture to be led by the Spirit.  At some point we must take personal responsibility to do justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God according to His Word (Micah 6:8).  When our hearts are hardened in sin, however, solid biblical teaching or Spirit-led worship will not force godly transformation upon us.

It is a remarkable thing that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the hearts of God's people who repent of their sin and trust Him.  The thing which I find beyond comprehension is God gives us choices all along, never forcing us to do His will.  This is seen in the life of Joseph and Samson, two men in whom the Holy Spirit dwelt.  Joseph was given great wisdom by God to interpret dreams, and Samson was given superhuman physical strength.  Both men said and did things which their parents weren't happy with - like when Joseph shared his dream about people bowing before him or when Samson sought a wife among the Philistines.  God used both of these men mightily, but how they dealt with persistent temptation was an indication of their current spiritual health and walk with God.

After Joseph was sold by his brothers to slave traders, he was bought by a man named Potiphar and made steward over all his house.  He was a handsome young man who soon caught the longing eyes of Potiphar's wife.  She shamelessly began to make sexual advances upon him.  Genesis 39:8-10 records his response:  "But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. ⁹ There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" ¹⁰ So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her."  Joseph addressed Potiphar's wife directly that to sleep with her would be a sin against God and his master.  He made an effort to avoid being alone with her because she made her evil intentions clear.

Samson, in sharp contrast to Joseph, sought the company of a harlot.  He loved her and slept with her (though unmarried) despite she plainly stated her desire to know how to bind and afflict him.  What he didn't know is five Philistine lords had bribed her to find the secret of his great strength.  Though he had the Spirit of God within him, Samson's response to Delilah's pestering was opposite of Joseph.  Judges 16:16-17 reads, "And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, ¹⁷ that he told her all his heart, and said to her, "No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man."  Joseph had been cut off from his family and culture but retained his integrity, while the life of sin Samson chose left him incapable of resisting Delilah's pestering.  After he was shorn the Spirit of God left Him, and Samson was taken, blinded, bound, and enslaved by his enemies - a picture of his tragic spiritual state.

Joseph and Samson were both imprisoned and used by God later in life.  Joseph was promoted to second in Egypt after interpreting Pharaoh's dream, and Samson was strengthened anew by God to push the supporting pillars of a temple to deal a savage blow to the Philistines.  In both of their lives God was their sole source of hope and help in dark, lonely times.  It is a fitting question for us who have been born again:  are we facing temptation to sin with head-on refusals like Joseph, doing all in our power to honour God with our decisions?  Or are we as Samson, pressed and pestered to death until we finally give in?  The state of our current relationship with God has a bearing on how we handle temptation.  Instead of simply trying to avoid sin, it is best to obey the scripture in Galatians 5:16:  "I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."  Having the Spirit of God within us doesn't necessarily mean we are walking in the Spirit.  Samson had the Spirit but fulfilled the lust of the flesh.  His life was cut short by sin, but may the Spirit quicken us to obey Him.  Let us consider our ways in light of the examples of Joseph and Samson and walk in the Spirit.