“The Spirit isn’t trying to leave us behind, but he does invite us to keep up.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – December 18, 2025
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25, ESV
Growing up, every year my family would spend the week of Thanksgiving at my mother’s childhood home in Houston, Texas. It was a joyful time spent with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, yet I remember the travel to and from this festive occasion was typically marked by hurried stress and anxiety as our family of seven sought to make it to the airplane in time to board successfully. As such, I remember my father and mother power walking from one gate to the next, calling out some version of “stay close!” over their shoulders as we kids did our best to stick together as a family unit.
In order not to lose sight of my parents, I had to be locked in and fully aware of where they were going and, in response, where I too was meant to go. They weren’t trying to lose my siblings or me- far from it. Yet they were on a mission and in that moment expected us to rise to the occasion and follow with all our might and strength!
The Spirit of God is on a mission in this world, healing and reconciling all things to himself. He isn’t trying to leave us behind, but he does invite us to keep up, or as St. Paul puts it, to “keep in step with the Spirit.” The Spirit calls the shots, sets the pace, and charts the course. It falls to us to respond and follow as he leads.
If we are always approaching the Lord through a therapeutic lens, asking him to enter into our world to comfort or console us in our wounds, we have accepted only a portion of our faith. Yes, Christ does meet us in our weakness, yet in the ultimate sense, he is not focused on us; we are meant to be focused on him.
We are loved and healed so that we have the strength needed to keep in step, joining him in his mission in the world. Let us never lose sight of this great truth, and instead seek to daily learn what it means to keep in step with the Spirit, because we should long to be wherever the Spirit is, for as Paul reminds us elsewhere, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
Prayer
Father, give us the strength to keep in step with your Spirit, that we may know the freedom and joy that is found in life with you, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
Ask the Lord in prayer today for the strength needed to keep in step with the Spirit, and choose to follow as he leads.
Related Reading
Romans 8:14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:21
Worship Resource
Audrey Assad: Lead, Kindly Light
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