The War that does not end

Ephesians 3:14

If you grew-up in the fifties and lived at 3738 Liberty Drive, in Corpus Christi, Texas, you would be a close relative of mine, and you would have been taught from a very young age to respect and obey authority.  If the person was an adult you were to be respectful and do as you were told, and that meant any and all, especially neighbors, teachers, preachers, and the police.  It would have been a death wish to speak back to my mother in a tone that was disrespectful, dad would have killed us and buried us in the backyard and told God we died, but the Rice kids were not that dumb.  Let me speak for myself, I was not that stupid, but at the early age of ten, I began to rebel against authority, but never in your face, it was out of sight and I was free to do it my way.  Do it my way became the model, and it was not a good model, often my way came out into the light and dad’s authority also came to light, that was always painful.

The little confession above is called my flesh, it shows how it got programmed and you could call it the DNA of my flesh, it likes to be in charge, it prefers to make it own rules and not to obey authority.  It can be referred to as independent living!  That is the kind of flesh that I brought into my relationship with Jesus Christ.  It was by His grace, through faith in what Christ Jesus did to redeem me from the control of sin, by shedding His blood for my sins.  The very moment He invaded my life, I was a new creation, but with that came that old flesh that had learned over 27 years how to suck the life out of others to get my needs met, that flesh did not get saved.  Jesus never claimed it did, in fact, He told us that the flesh would war against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.  “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:16-17)

A Christian has the same battle that I had as a young boy, I wanted to please my mother and dad, but there was a strong voice inside of me that told me to do it my way.  I now understand that voice was Satan and he was at that time the master of my soul, but when Christ invaded my life, Jesus change my desires, and the war began, who would I listen to?  Our answer should be found in Ephesians 3:14-17, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - . . .”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice