Skip to main content

The Flesh


But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

         "But I’m hungry.”
          “But I need it.”
          “It’s just the way I am. I was born this way.”
          “She just makes me so mad.”
          I’ve been hearing and thinking about magical thinking recently. Researchers can’t agree on what magical thinking is, but it generally includes the idea that if X happens then Y will, or if X happens that Z won’t even when there is no true relationship between X, Y, and Z. For Christians, this magical thinking includes such things as, “If I’m a Christian then I won’t feel temptation” (or its reverse, “I feel temptation, therefore, I must not be a Christian.”) The list could go on for a long time.
          I’m just as guilty as anyone else. I don’t want to do battle with myself over what I eat. I want the Holy Spirit to make me a Stepford Wife when it comes to food, exercising no control myself, but being perfectly controlled by God. I’d like the same to be true of every aspect of my life that I don’t like. “Change my circumstances, Lord, so that I don’t want ______, or change my wants, so that my circumstances don’t matter.”
          Some others claim that because they feel, or want, that what they feel or want is natural and therefore it should be not only permitted but celebrated. Some claim that if one is “born this way” there is nothing that anyone can do but permit and celebrate. Of course, those born with alcoholic, pedophilic, or violent tendencies don’t tend to find society celebrating their inebriation, sexual activity, or violence. They are expected to find ways to restrain themselves from drunk driving, sex with children, or aggression. Of course, they and we all excuse ourselves.        
           That sort of thinking is not what today’s passage is discussing. It tells us that if we walk by the Spirit, we won’t do, not that we won’t want to do. That, of course, takes me back to a lesson I learned and need to relearn. I’m allowed to not want to do something and still do it. I’m allowed to want to do something and not do it. Often, it’s healthy to not do what we want to or to do what we don’t. It builds discipline and strength.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...