As I read the scriptures and study them I am always searching and desiring that the scriptures will become a “living reality” to me. It is wonderful to gain head knowledge of something but unless it translates into something that I can live by it is worthless.
A lot of Christians have a great deal of head knowledge about the Bible and God, but it hasn’t translated into something that has changed their lives. I have heard it said that all of us know a lot more than we live when it comes to Christianity. People usually can talk a good talk but when it gets down to reality of it they come up lacking.
We have a tendency to think that we today have unique issues that the early church didn’t have to deal with, but as you read the scriptures you find that human nature hasn’t changed very much in thousands of years. Basically humans want to live their lives the way they want to no matter what century or decade they were born in. Christians have struggled with the flesh throughout the decades and as far as I know will continue to struggle with it until we put off this mortal body.
The Apostle Paul had the same problems that we have today, look at Romans 7:14-25 AMP We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns]. 16 Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it. 17 However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.] 19 For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul]. 21 So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands. 22 For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature]. [Ps. 1:2.] 23 But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh]. 24 O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? 25 O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Does this sound like you? I sure can identify with this, sometimes I just feel like I am being pulled in two different directions, I want to do the right thing but I find myself doing right the opposite. Then when I do the wrong thing I feel guilt and condemnation because I didn’t do what I knew to be the right thing to do. Then I ask the question, “Will God forgive me?” It is just this emotional and mental roller coaster we are on that seems to never end.
Thank God that Paul gives us the answer to this in verses 24 and 25. Jesus Christ is the one who will and can set us free from this struggle. The question then is, “How does Christ do this for us?”
Well we’ve been studying the past few weeks about “Our Identity in Christ”. We have to come to know who we are in Christ and what that means in our lives. But the Apostle Paul gives us further insight in chapter 8 of Romans on how we can be free from this struggle.
I want you to read this portion of scripture over and over again all the time asking God to give you a revelation of what it means to you when it comes to living the Christian life.
Romans 8:1-17 AMP THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. [John 3:18.] 2 For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], [Lev. 7:37.] 4 So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit]. 5 For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit. 6 Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]. 7 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot. 8 So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him. 9 But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God]. [Rom. 8:14.] 10 But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you]. 11 And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh. 13 For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! 16 The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God. 17 And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
Brothers and Sisters I know that this kind of live seems unattainable to us, but it is because we are so use to living life through the mind of the flesh, but it is not if it were why would God inspired the Apostle to write about it. This is not a dream desire, but it is the reality of who we are in Christ and we just need to lay claim to it in our own lives.
It isn’t going to happen overnight, but if we will mediate on scriptures such as this, then our lives will be transformed into the image of Christ, the struggles won’t ever cease in this world, but we will be transformed into a person who knows how to deal with the struggles and one who knows how to live controlled by the Spirit of God.
It really boils down to a choice that we have to make as to whether we choose life or death, there are no gray areas when it comes to living according to our flesh or according to the Spirit. Each one has its consequences, if you choose to follow the flesh then be willing to deal with the consequences. If you choose to follow the Spirit then “enjoy” the consequences. Following the Spirit is not easy because it means that I have to die, God and I can’t share the throne of my life; one of us has to go.
But I know that if God is in control of my life that he will only bring about good in and for my life. Just remember these words: Romans 8:28 AMP We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. Romans 8:31 NIV What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:35-39 NIV Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
