The Flesh

The Flesh

I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out.” (The defeated follower of Christ verse)  (Roman 7:18)

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13)

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 5:17)

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 6:8)

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (1 John 2:16)

One of the men God used to birth me into the family of God was a barber named, Bob Keese.  He would say Rice, you do not have to worry about being a has- been, you’re a never was.  He was referring to my not being in a sport and not being much in the way of a student and not having any plans for the future.

Today I am 76 years of age, and I have had a blessed life! I was blessed with a dad and a mother who had a relationship with Jesus Christ.  From birth I was taken to church, it was always Baptist and small, and did not have very good leadership.  From an early age, I had a handicap, but I was not aware of it until 27 years of age.

Now it was not being left-handed, or tongue-tied, or having big ears and being known by my Jr. high friends as flaps, that followed me into high school.  The most amazing thing happen to me at age 27 in a hotel room in Victoria, Texas.  I opened a Gideon Bible that was in the dresser drawer and it opened to Romans 10:9, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

It was the next day that I began to understand I was living with a handicap and if not addressed it would steal this new joy I had in my relationship with Jesus Christ.  It was a handicap that I discovered is common to man, all men.  It’s not new, Paul, Peter and King David all struggled with it, and so do you.  Its title is flesh!

For 27 years of life, I was getting my needs met outside of Christ’s power, and I had learned how to do this in the world set on WIIFM (What’s in it for me).  Now I had to learn how to let Jesus do it all for me, and the Scriptures tell us that it is a battleground.  Not a white dog and a black dog and the one I give the bone to wins, I did not have a sin nature and a God nature, that would be a civil war that is not supported in Scripture.  What is going on is found in Galatians 5:17, “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.”

Have you come to the point that you understand you’re a mess; that we are all a mess, saved, redeemed and set free from the control of sin.  However, each of us has our own version of flesh.  And it’s a battle, isn’t it?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice