We tend to think, and honestly, we’ve been trained to think by our culture—that we are victims of our circumstances. Somehow we’ve absorbed the idea that someone else—our upbringing, our boss, our spouse, the economy, the weather, whatever it may be—is responsible for whether we end up with a good and satisfying life. But that is not the story the Bible tells about the born-again believer. When we receive the gift of salvation, what was once written by our flesh—by our desperate grasping for love, by our anxious searching for peace—is rewritten. It’s not by a better set of circumstances. Not by a new job, a new relationship, or a long-awaited vacation. Our life choices can be written by the Spirit of God, who has taken up residence inside us.
Before we are born again, our souls cannot communicate with God. We were spiritually lifeless:
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were DEAD in trespasses, made us ALIVE together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” (Ephesians 2:1-5)
In our spiritually dead condition, all we had was our flesh. Our flesh is an antenna tuned only to the physical world—it cannot receive what the Spirit offers, and it cannot produce what the Spirit produces. So we searched. We reached for satisfaction in things that could only ever give us fleeting, momentary comfort. We were desperate for love because we had no one greater than our own desperately needy hearts to produce it. We cannot give what we do not have! This is the despairing condition of every soul not yet reconciled to God through salvation.
But our opportunities radically change when we are born again!
Our souls, once dead, become alive, righteous, and permanently united to God. We gain a functioning connection to Him through our now-living spirits. And with that connection comes a remarkable and priceless choice.
But each morning we wake up as new creations, we still find ourselves in a battle. That battle, though, is not a battle within our souls or our spirits—both belong entirely to God now and are secure. The daily battle is between our enemies—the devil, the world’s culture, and the flesh, which still pull us toward old thinking patterns and habits—and God’s Spirit, who now lives within us and empowers us to make a meaningful choice!
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” (Galatians 5:16-17)
The power of the Spirit within us is precisely why our circumstances no longer hold the authority to dictate our story!
A mundane Tuesday and a devastating diagnosis carry equal weight in this sense—neither one determines whether we walk in the flesh or walk in the Spirit. That decision belongs to us, and it is always available to us, because Christ Himself lives in us. He conquered our greatest circumstance—death.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2)
When we CHOOSE to walk according to the Spirit, we gain access to a peace and a joy that circumstances can neither manufacture nor destroy. This joy runs deeper than the temporary fix we get from retail therapy or an exciting vacation. It is anchored, steady, and sustaining.
“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13)
We also gain the capacity to love in a completely different way. It is no longer a love we scrape together out of our own limited reserves, hoping it will be reciprocated so we don’t run out. We have a love we give away generously and without reservation, because God’s Spirit is continually pouring it into us.
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5)
And where there is this kind of love, fear and anxiety lose the ability to dictate our life stories!
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)
The astonishing weight of what we write with our lives today is not a small, private matter. It can shape the eternal destiny of someone who is watching us to find out what Jesus is all about. It can mean the difference between eternal blessing and eternal loss for people whose stories intersect with ours. That is a sobering, motivating truth, and it should press us deeper into our relationship with God.
My friend, we strengthen ourselves for a journey of vibrant victory through consistent, disciplined habits: studying God’s Word so we know His voice, maintaining open and honest communication with Him through prayer, walking in loving obedience by discipling others and sharing the Gospel, and staying tightly bonded to other believers within a true New Testament church.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by two, one can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
We were never meant to write God’s story for ourselves in isolation.
“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Sometimes our story becomes woven into someone else’s. Sometimes theirs becomes woven into ours. That interweaving is part of what makes this life so remarkably beautiful and so eternally significant. We are not isolated authors scribbling alone, but people writing our stories alongside a whole community of believers, under the authorship of God Himself.
Our circumstances, then, whether ordinary or agonizing, do not dictate our story—we do. And every single day, we get to choose.
Prayer:
Lord, thank You for making me alive when I was spiritually dead and cut off from You. Thank You for placing Your Spirit in me so that I am no longer desperate, no longer searching, and no longer forced to let my flesh dictate my story. Help me remember, every single day, that my circumstances do not have the authority to write my life—only my decision to walk in Your Spirit does. Strengthen me to study Your Word, to stay in honest conversation with You through prayer, to walk in loving obedience, and to stay closely bonded to other believers who are writing their stories alongside mine. Let my life today reflect a decision that produces eternal blessing, for me and for everyone whose story intersects with mine. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
