Living by the Spirit

You see, that is what Paul is saying to you and me. We will be exposed if we try to look like something we are not. In my flesh, in my sinful nature, I can produce a facsimile of spiritual fruit, but it's not the real thing. Sooner or later, it will become evident. Some of us even try to preach in the flesh for the self-aggrandizement we get out of it. You can fake some of the people some of the time, not all of the people all of the time. And we never can pull off our endeavors at being an imposter with God.

The flip side of this is true. For those of us who belong to Christ, the sinful nature with its passions and desires, have been crucified along with Christ. We have the privilege of living by the Spirit, keeping in step with the Spirit, not being conceited, provoking and envying one another. We will have our differences, honestly and lovingly expressed, and ultimately what we do is not done in pride by the sinful nature, but humbly and in loving service of God and others.

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Let me conclude by telling you the story of a woman who illustrates what it is to lose oneself in a downward spiral, Satan's way, and to find oneself in the person of Jesus Christ.

Maxie Dunnam, tells the story of Marian Preminger, who was born in Hungary in 1913, raised in a castle with her aristocratic family, surrounded by maids, tutors, butlers and chauffeurs. Her grandmother, who lived with them, insisted that whenever they traveled they take their own linen, for she believed it was beneath their dignity to sleep between the sheets used by common people.

While attending school in Vienna, Marian met a handsome young Viennese doctor, and they fell in love and married when she was only 18. It lasted only a year, and she returned to Vienna to begin her life as an actress.

While auditioning for a play, she met a brilliant, young German director, Otto Preminger. They fell in love and soon married. A bit later, they moved to the United States where he began his career as a movie director. As you know, Hollywood can be a place with a lot of biting, devouring and destroying of one another. Marian was caught up in the glamour, the lights, the superficial excitement, and soon began to live a sordid life. When Preminger discovered it, he divorced her.

She returned to Europe to live the life of a socialite in Paris. In 1948, she learned through the newspaper that Albert Schweitzer, a man she had read about as a little girl, was making one of his periodic visits to Europe and was staying at Günsbach. She phoned his secretary, and was given an appointment to see Dr. Schweitzer the next day.

When she arrived in Günsbach, she discovered that he was in the village church, playing the organ. She listened and turned the pages of music for him. After their visit, he invited her to have dinner at his house. By the end of the day, she knew that she had discovered what she had been looking for all of her life. She was with him throughout the rest of his visit. And when he returned to Africa, he invited her to come to Lambarene and work in the hospital.

She did — and she found herself. There in Lambarene, the girl who was born in a castle and raised like a princess, who was accustomed to being waited upon with all the luxuries of a spoiled life, became a servant. She changed bandages, bathed babies, fed lepers . . . and became free. She wrote her autobiography and called it All I Ever Wanted Was Everything. She could not get the "everything" that would satisfy and give meaning until she could give everything. When she died, in 1979, the New York Times carried her obituary, which included this statement from her: "Albert Schweitzer said there are two classes of people in this world — the helpers and the non-helpers. I'm a helper."

What a privilege you and I have to understand that true freedom is not license. We don't need to buy the favor of God with good works. But neither is freedom license. As we open ourselves to the grace of Jesus Christ, He transforms us by His Holy Spirit to grow spiritual fruit. He saves us from a downward spiral. We are enabled to live our lives empowered by the Holy Spirit.