A Litmus Test for Eternal Life

Galatians 5:14-25 (NIV)

(14) The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
(15) If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
(16) So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
(17) For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
(18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
(19) The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
(20) idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
(21) and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
(23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
(24) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
(25) Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.


While none of us is yet holy as our Lord is holy (1 John 1:8), we have been given places in the Word that we can use as a litmus test for our claim to eternal life.

Progress is not always linear:  there are sometimes many ups and down.  But over time we should have made progress in putting to death our fleshly nature, and more and more living in our new nature in Christ.

How are you doing?

We often want to look around us horizontally and judge ourselves by other Christians, non-believers: other flawed people like ourselves.  But the true yardstick God has set for us is His Son: Jesus Christ.  The Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) is a portrait of Christ.  The fruits of the Spirit Paul mentions here and in other places, that the Apostle John mentions in his 1st letter, are also portraits of Christ.

If you struggle with growing in Christ like all of us do from time to time, just remember this.  What is fed is what grows strong.  What is starved is what grows weak.

If you feed your sinful nature through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life - don't be surprised if your sinful nature stays strong or reawakens to claw you up one side and down the other.

But if instead you starve your sin nature and feed the new nature with true food:  honest prayer with God and the bread of life, His Word - don't be surprised if your new nature is strengthened and your old nature cries out in pain, but then weakens.

The strongest, most experienced Christian is always in danger from their sin nature.  If it is not something base like lust or envy, then we get prideful with how well we think we are doing - and in that instance we fall.  For a born again Christian (the only kind), repentance is not something that we only exercised in the act of submitting to Christ in faith.  Repentance is something that we will be exercising repeatedly until we are taken out, or taken up.

Truly, in this life we will have trouble - but Jesus has overcome the world!

Remember that He is our only source of victory, so stay at His table avoiding all others.  As you first came to Him, so continue to walk:  repentance and faith, repentance and faith, repentance and faith.  Just make sure your 'repentance and faith' are those that are defined by God in His word, and not by your sinful nature.

One takes advantage of God's grace in the manner God has intended.  The other abuses grace and treats the Lord's blood as an unholy thing.  In our heart of hearts, we know which is which.