A Pound of Flesh (not part of The Meal series)

A Pound of Flesh

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:17‬

I struggled for a long time, a very long time, to give God all of me, to be submissive and obedient. I enjoyed the world more and I thought sin was expected, a part of life. 

I didn’t understand the difference. The difference that salvation brought.  I didn’t understand what listening to the Holy Spirit even meant. After salvation, I thought there would be an automatic change to my behavior. I had help inside of me, but I wasn’t listening. 

Turning our life over to Christ doesn’t mean He does all the work. It means we are not alone - we still have to listen. 

I’ve said it before - if you take out the bad stuff in your life and put the good stuff (Bible, prayer, listening to the Holy Spirit) in it, you can’t go wrong.  This doesn’t happen on its own - you have to do it. Saying it doesn’t make it happen. Doing it, makes it happen. 

I learned the hard way. 

If you can’t hear the Holy Spirit talking to you, you should re-examine where you are with your relationship with God. The world can muffle that voice you once heard or aren’t hearing. 

It’s so hard to do. Whatever our besetting sins are - they will always have a chance of creeping back in if we don’t diligently work hard to keep them out. 

It’s not about passive resistance - it’s about active control.

We control what we put in front of us and how we respond to it. If we allow bad things in front of us, the chance of bad things happening are higher. If we put holy and righteous things in front of us, it doesn’t allow the bad stuff to creep in and take over.  But it does take work. 

What we look at, what we listen to and what we consume, sense and feel can alter how we behave. Don’t take my word for it - read your Bible, look at your past, examine your present.

If Jesus Christ isn’t at the center of everything you do, you aren’t living for the life he gave. You know what the bad stuff is. Nobody has to tell you. If you make an excuse for doing it, it’s probably bad too. 

We all have a sinful nature, but that can’t be the excuse for sinful behavior. Just because we are forgiven doesn’t mean we are allowed to behave any way we want. 

You control you. You can’t sprinkle God into your life and expect to be showered by His love. 

We have a responsibility as children of God to make every effort, intentional and deliberate, to remove these things so we can bring glory to God. 

We owe more than we can ever repay - and we should live like our salvation is priceless. 

“And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:24‬