Tug Of War…

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another…”

~Galatians 5:16-17

This is not easy to do, not even for some mature Christians. Temptations of the sinful nature can be so powerful, and widespread, and the evil one knows it. They are not confined to things of the flesh alone. In fact, Satan has a number of various desires in order throw Christians off track.

A few of these inclinations are listed in (VV.19-21) of this same chapter. Here it says:

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these…”

So we can see from Paul’s words to the area churches in and around Galatia that the sinful nature referred to here is not confined to just fleshly thoughts and desires. They involve several ungodly acts such as strife, outbursts of anger, disputes, envy, and even sorcery, (witchcraft!)

Considering the broad scope of this kind of sin, is it any wonder why we need the blood of Christ to continually cleanse us from our “slips” by way of God’s magnificent grace! This is the reason we are told by our Lord to be careful of the company we keep, even to the point of not speaking of the things evil ones do in their lives, (Ephesians 5:11-12)…

Instead, we are to devote ourselves to the things of the Spirit, Godly thoughts and pursuits and such. We need to read and study the word of God, fellowship with other believers, and concentrate on practicing the things mentioned in (VV 22-23) of chapter five. Here we read:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Yes, these things can be much easier said than done in an evil world. But this is how we become more mature in the faith, and shine our lights as Christians. In time, if we sincerely make the effort to incorporate these fruits of the Spirit into our lives, they become more natural to us. And this means growth in the faith which is pleasing to God.

Now it is important to mention that we cannot avoid being around sinful people, nor should we try to. Notice, however, the difference in being around them versus participating in what they do. We do need to try to be an example of Light to them in order to help turn them away from sinful practices.

No doubt many of us are surprised at how difficult this may be to accomplish. But just as with practice of the spiritual things in our own lives, we may be surprised in the ways we might influence someone in a Godly way! We may never even know that we have made an impression on someone, but it happens more often than we might think.

So let our lights continue to shine as we work to be more like the One who has saved us by His death, burial, and resurrection…the Lord Jesus Christ! 

~Steve