Friday, September 24, 2010

The impossible life, lived outside of Christ.


Galatians 6:7-8

The natural Christian life has its foundation in the world, and the things of the world, the flesh and the devil have tainted it.  The natural Christian has rights and freedom with a strong desire to become strong so they can help those whom they judge need help.  What a contrast to the Spirit-filled Christian, who understands that his flesh is and always will be in a battle with the Spirit of Truth that lives in them.  The Spirit-filled Christian understands that to live you must die, to be free you must give-up your rights to freedom, and the more you give the more you will receive.  As the Spirit-filled Christian matures they understand that independent living is of the flesh, and centered in a gospel of the world, and they must be totally dependant on the Father for everything.

Today, the church is full of the natural man, the one who is contaminated by a love for the world, and that person has a gospel built on the world’s system and the goal is to improve and get better without dying to self, or being lead by the Spirit.  This is not a new thing for the Church; it has battled the natural Christian life from its earliest days, and that is why the apostle Paul states, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)

Should we not hold to this admonishment that Paul made to Timothy, “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.  Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge” for by it some have swerved from the faith.”  So we were warned, live this life as dead men, dead to your flesh and it desires.   Always go to the Father for all your needs, never forgetting, a person reaps what they sow. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice



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