Trust Before You Jump

19 The acts of the flesh 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, forbearance, 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 flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

- Galatians 5:19-25

Galatians 5 powerfully describes the internal battle we all face between living for our flesh or living by the Spirit. Our flesh brings struggle and destruction - but living by the Spirit brings fruit. Verse 25 instructs us, “Let us keep in step with the Spirit.” If we want the fruit, we must keep in step with the Spirit. In the original Greek, the phrase “keep in step” means, “to be in line with, stand beside a person or a thing, hold to, agree with, follow.” But how do we follow the Spirit? How do we choose the things of the Spirit when the world tries to convince us otherwise? Galatians 5:5 tells us, “For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.”

“We eagerly await by FAITH.” Faith is the key to keeping in step with the Spirit. It is by faith, or complete trust and confidence, that we let God be the guide of our steps, rather than our own selfish desires and motives.

If you want to see the fruit of the Spirit in your life, rather than the destruction of the flesh, you must trust God enough to let Him guide your steps, even when it might not be how you want things to go.

As I prayed through Galatians 5:5 and the powerful truth that keeping in step with the Spirit is a walk of faith, I reflected on times in my life when I had to deeply trust someone. Perhaps we can learn from the trust we already have in our lives and discern how we might apply those truths to our relationship with God.

I was 19 years old when I had to trust a person more than I ever had before. I had to trust their expertise, their abilities, and their harness - as they strapped my body to them and together we jumped out of a plane! Yes, my skydiving instructor was one of the greatest examples of trust I’ve ever experienced! Since we were doing a tandem jump, he was in charge of everything - I had to trust and have faith in his abilities, enough of it to put my life in his hands.

As I reflected on that experience, I remembered something interesting. During the 45 minutes or so leading up to the jump - a time of training, instruction, and preparation - my instructor asked me a lot about myself and shared a lot about his life experiences with skydiving.

I think his choice to share and ask a lot of questions was intentional - kind of like how the doctor might make small talk with a patient before performing an important surgery.

There’s something special about the relational element of an interaction when we’re facing a tense situation. Building a relationship and getting to know one another creates calm in the face of fear and trust between two people when it matters most.

I think my instructor knew that if I felt known by him, and if I knew enough about his story to be confident that he knew what he was doing, the jump would go a lot more smoothly. I’d feel a lot safer, and I’d trust him enough to surrender control.

Life is a lot like skydiving, we’re often having to jump into unknowns, scared to death and grasping for control. How do we trust our instructor, Jesus? We’ve got to get to know Him, we’ve got to let Him know us more deeply, and then we can trust - because our relationship with Him has us so confident that He knows what the heck He’s doing. Of course, we’ll never know fully. Of course, there will always be leaps of faith. But God doesn’t ask us for blind faith. Instead, He invites us into a relationship that will breed the kind of trust that lets us jump out of metaphorical planes boldly.

If you want to have a life marked by the fruit of the Spirit, if you want to trust God enough to let His Spirit guide your steps, lean into a relationship with Him.

And watch as your confidence, faith, and peace in Him grow.

Cristina Schmitter

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