If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Being guided by the Spirit means paying more attention to "judgment and to love for God" than to nitpicky details about tithes "of mint and rue and of every garden herb". It wasn't what the Pharisees were doing that was wrong. What was wrong was their motivation for doing it. They were only tithing for the same reason they loved seets of honor. It was based on a prideful desire to appear religious in the eyes of others. Because this was their motivation for their practice of giving was insufficient. The practice wasn't wrong. It didn't go far enough.
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
True attention to judgment would have led them to use their money out of the motivation that the first fruit of the Spirit provides, love. They would have worked to address the needs of others as more primary than smaller details which would nevertheless not have been neglected. The motivations that pride can provide don't go far enough for the all in commitment to which we are called. Only the Spirit can do that in us. Hence, while not being under the law may first seem like we actually have less required of us, we find ourselves empowered and motivated to do more.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.
We do face the risk of beginning in the Spirit and ending in the flesh. That is because our flesh still feels rewarded when others see us doing good things. If we get too used to this so that we rely on it as our only reason for performing works of mercy we will eventually fall short just as the Pharisees did. This is not to say it is never OK to feel good about doing good. But we should at least sometimes keep our left hand from knowing what our right hand is doing. We should not blow the trumpet whenever we give alms (see Matthew 6:2-3). Making occasional concrete choices powered by grace, to do good in secret, if possible even from our own pride, will give the Spirit room to keep the desires of pride from controlling us.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
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