Conflict

Galatians 5:16-17

“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.”

It is my personal belief that we do not understand what the Spirit of the Living God is telling us through the apostle Paul, for who would not please God if they knew how to do so?  That is, unless more is going on than we grasp, but this I believe with all my heart, when you and I entered into Christ something got Crucified.  Now if that did not happen, close your Bible and pick up some other book to find your way to live life on planet earth.  For it is written, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20)   We know that when they crucified someone they died, and God is telling us that when we entered into Christ something died, and that something was the old man, the sin nature.  But the flesh is still very much alive, and the flesh has been programed from birth to get its needs met outside of Christ.  So you are a new Creation with flesh that has an appetite for the world and the things of the world.  My friend Bill Gillham would often say these words; “Have you discovered that the Christian life is not difficult to live?  It’s impossible!  Jesus Christ is the only one who has ever really lived the Christian life, and He is the only one who can live it today . . . and that is what He wants to do in you and through you!”

Bill and Anabel who have a total understanding of these truths today, for they are in the presence of our Lord, enjoying the fullness of worship with the others who have gone to the Father.  These two taught many of us about the two ways for a Christian to walk in this world: According to the flesh, and in the Spirit, and walking by the flesh is not just doing bad things.  I will use Bill’s words; “What it is: depending on yourself and your own abilities to get your needs met apart from Christ.  The cardinal sin of man is independence from God.”  And what about walking in the Spirit!   “What it is not: religious activity.  What it is: allowing Jesus to live His life through you.”

Bill was a great teacher and communicator and he would use these three points to help us understand what the Bible calls flesh.  “Point 1) God is love.  You were created by God to be loved unconditionally.  Only God loves unconditionally, therefore you need God.  Point 2) God created laws (ways) to govern the universe.  All of His ways are good.  Point 3) each of you showed up on planet earth with the need to be loved (Point 1).  Instead of getting your needs met God’s way (Point 2), you developed your own ways of getting your needs met.  This is what the Bible calls “flesh.”

Do you recall that Paul began chapter 5 talking about freedom and how we have been set free from the control of sin?  Each day, many times a day, we choose to sin or not to sin, each day we choose to believe Jesus tells the truth, or to listen to the deceptive channel I call number One, and buy into how to get our needs met outside of Christ, who is our life.  A Key Concept Bill taught on the flesh: “God has no plan to make something beautiful of your life (in Adam).  The plan is to kill it and start over again. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice
http://fromourbackporch.blogspot.com/