The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Conflict"
"If we expect to somehow reach a level of godliness in this present world that does not include spirit/flesh conflict, our hopes will not be fulfilled."
During our earthly lives, faithfully walking with God does not involve the elimination of temptation, but rather the overcoming of it.
"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (I John 5:4).
No less than the Apostle Paul confessed, "I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me" (Romans 7:10). Paul referred to "the law of sin" that remains in the flesh of born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, in contrast to "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" that indwells our spirits (Romans 8:2). Like Israel, which left Egypt by the hand of God, only to discover "war with Amalek (and others) from generation to generation," believers presently face challenge within our own being. "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh" (Galatians 5:17). Thus, we face conflicting desires and sensibilities, meaning that even as we genuinely do the will of God, we may feel the contrary impulses of the flesh.
Consider the Lord Jesus, who never sinned, but "was in all points tempted like as we are" (Hebrews 4:15). He felt the realities of temptation, as in the garden of Gethsemane. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death… the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:38; 41). Our Lord experienced devilish and worldly provocations to distrust and disobey His Father. "We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:15). Always, however, He overcame temptation, even while feeling the power of its pull in His own humanity. A willing spirit (as motivated and empowered by the Holy Spirit) and weak flesh also characterizes our experience in this present life wherein we seek to "walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).
If we expect to somehow reach a level of godliness in this present world that does not include spirit/flesh conflict, our hopes will not be fulfilled. By definition, triumph must have trial to overcome. This includes not only devils and the present world system, but also the far more at hand conflict faced within our personal being. The flesh will be the flesh until we are glorified. Our spirits will be our spirits, that is, the scene of the indwelling Holy Spirit who birthed us as a "new man, created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). He will be who He who He is, thereby making possible in the face of temptation our ability to be who we are in Christ. Paul vividly expressed the extremity of the challenge we face, and far more, the power of the risen Christ to enable our overcoming…
"If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (enliven) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh."
(Romans 8:10-12)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Cleanse Thou me from secret faults."
(Psalm 19:12)
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