Trending—it’s a popular word. In fact, the word is, well…trending. Most news, video and social media websites organize content by what’s trending, giving us a snapshot of the most popular downloads, clicks, forwards, etc. at any particular moment. It’s a great tool that helps us satisfy our curiosity and save time by prioritizing what we might like.
Think how it might be if we had a trending tool that measured our minds and hearts, a means that gauges our most popular thoughts, our most frequent reactions, our most prevalent attitudes, thereby giving us a snapshot of our spiritual lives at any particular moment. So here’s the question: If you were to wear a screen that displayed what’s trending about your faith journey, what would it say right now?
The Word
Several Bible passages teach us that our minds and hearts will trend in one of two directions—either toward things of the flesh or toward things of the Spirit. There is constant tension between these two things. They cannot coexist. The passages below give us two graphic and vivid lists showing the difference between the flesh and Spirit. You will want to read these verses in a way that you can mark them either on a hard copy print out, in your Bible or via a Bible app with highlighting features.
As you read the verses, do this:
1. Highlight in one color any acts of the flesh (or earthly nature) you tend to exhibit regularly.
2. Highlight in another color any traits of the Spirit (or new self) you tend to exhibit regularly.
If you want to dive deeper, list all the traits and acts you see and rate yourself on each one. Use one-word descriptions such as lack, fail, decent, OK, excel, etc.
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Col. 3:5-14).
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 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. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other” (Gal. 5:16-25).
The So What
So, what’s trending? Which of these two lists, flesh or spirit, is controlling you? Write down your answer and a couple thoughts about your answer.
Seal the Deal
Do you want to trend toward the fruit of the Spirit and your new self? To continue with the web analogy, trending lists change when something disrupts the flow of the day (e.g., a pop music artist gets arrested, an NBA star returns to his home city to finish his career, a news event grips the nation).
So, let’s get disruptive. Try this: Think proactively about how you can trend toward the Spirit. Pick one fruit of the spirit such as kindness and obsess about it today and for the next few days. Run everything you do and all your thoughts through the filter of that fruit. Using kindness as an example, ask yourself, “How can I disrupt my day with kindness?” Here are a few ideas to get your creativity started:
• Share your obsession on every social media outlet you use (e.g., #trendingtowardkindness).
• Go out of your way to be kind to your family.
• Do a random act of kindness (e.g., pay for a stranger’s coffee or meal, bag some groceries at a store, clean some toilets).
• Show kindness to the most recent person with whom you were angry or frustrated.
After a few days, choose another fruit to trend toward, and then keep the sequence going. Before long, you won’t be trending, but will be living in your new self, walking in step with the Spirit.
