The Problem of the Flesh

     What in the world is the "flesh".  What does that mean and why does it matter to me?  Or more often in Christianity, "I'm going to put to death my flesh!  See, I no longer will (list your favorite vice)".

  Let's look at a biblical definition of "flesh".  

Romans 8:5-8  Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.  The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

Flesh = hostile to God, not submitted to God, cannot please God, and death

John 3: 5-6 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

Flesh leads to more flesh.

John 6:36 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

Flesh = nothing gained

Galations 6:8  Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Flesh = destruction

Romans 8:12-14  Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation-- but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.  For if you live according to the flesh, you will die

; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.  For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Flesh = death

Acts of the flesh according to the Bible, include:

Galations 5:19-21 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

These are the acts of the flesh with which Christians are the most familiar. We would all agree that the acts listed above are bad, right? Or at least we may say they're not such a great idea.

Remember, flesh = death.

In my last post I talked to a friend of mine about acts of the flesh. I mentioned some of them can be positive and lead to some change. But they do not bring Life. Here's a good way to look at it.

Negative Flesh:                                                                        

Anger/hatred                                        

Envy/discontentment                          

Over eating                                           

Drunkenness                                         

Laziness                                                

Impurity/porn/adultry/etc.                       

Positive Flesh:

Peacefulness
Contentedness
Dieting
Sober
Exercise and motivational plans
Purity
 

Now wait!  All of those things listed in the Positive Flesh side look really good!  Doesn't God say we're supposed to be peaceful, content, sober, pure and maybe throw in some dieting to boot?  After all, it's the "Daniel" diet!  That's much better than the "caveman" or "Paleo" diet!  Right?!  (Sorry, I can't help pick on dieting.  It's the one that speaks the most to me.) 

Dieting makes me think of fruit.  Are you hungry?  Imagine it's lunch time and you've been offered three apples.  One is obviously squishy and smelly.  It has little flies around it.  Ugh!  Rotten apple!  You pass that one by easily.  The next one is the best looking apple you've ever seen in your life.  It's big and red.  It's shiny and I betcha it's juicy too.  Mmmmm.....  You just can't wait to bite into it!  You grab it up- you've never wanted an apple so bad!  You take a big huge bite into it and WHAT!  It's plastic?!  Are you kidding me? It looked so real and yummy.  What happened?  And who would serve plastic fruit anyway!  How insane.  Well, there's one left.  Might as well go ahead and take it.  It's not that special looking.  It's just an apple.  Nothing more to say about it.  You bite into it and it is sweet, juicy and the most satisfying apple you've ever had.  

If you haven't figured it out by now, the rotten fruit correlates to negative flesh.  It's pretty easy to spot.  We know what it looks like, smells like and we can see the flies.  I mean, we're "good" Christians, right?  We would "never" do anything like that.  
The plastic fruit is our positive acts of the flesh.  They really look good.  I mean, they look so righteous, they're squeaky clean!  But there is no Life in them.  Plastic fruit, if it could produce plastic seeds, will always then again produce plastic fruit.  Remember, flesh begets flesh. 
The last fruit, seems to be nothing special, but it is perfect.  It nourishes your body.

So where does Life come from?  

Go back up to Romans 5:5-8.  "but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace."

And John 3:6 "but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

John 6:36 "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life."

Galations 6:8b "whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."

While that is only a glimpse of the Life we have in Christ, I think we'll have to save the definition of Life for another day.  

Grace and peace to you in God our Father.

                                                                                                One Grace Woman