Posts tagged ‘flesh vs. spirit’
Why Does a Closer Walk Often Mean Ethereal to So Many?
More Christians need to realize that knowing God is not through ecstatic experiences like speaking in tongues or some emotional high that we are to take as directing our steps. The life of a Christian is often mundane because it involves submitting ourselves to Him and His purposes, which means constantly pushing Self to the rear. This is not fun and anyone who tells you the process is fun may not be doing it right. I can guarantee you from Scripture that Self will do everything it can to be top dog! Paul says we should wrestle with it to subdue it (Romans 8:13; 1 Corinthians 9:27). This is exactly what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was so intense, He sweated great drops of blood (Luke 22:39-46). Try to imagine that and yes, it is an actual medical situation where the stress or tension of a situation can dilate the blood vessels until it appears as though the person is bleeding from the forehead or face.
Romans 8: Life in the Spirit, Part 3
What Paul is saying here – in fact, he is emphatically teaching it – is that we become the products of our environments and pursuits. This means that if we become Christians, but continue to live as though we are not, we will continue to live the way the world lives. The world lives by the “flesh,” that is doing, thinking, and speaking the way of the flesh. The flesh Paul is speaking of here is not our physical skin. Paul is speaking of the evil that is in the world that stems from everyone’s sin nature and the general curse placed by God on the Creation itself. Romans 8:6 states quite simply that the “outlook” or end result of the flesh is death. If we follow the dictates of our sin nature, we can be assured that its end is death, which is separation from God.
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