Peace with God or Peace with the Flesh

"For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

The Flesh is another enemy which encourages us to live for our own glory, to be selfish and to seek power.  According to Romans 8:5-6, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit.  for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

We must remember that God’s grace not only not only brought us to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but it has also given us, through Christ, the means to conform our life to honor Him.  We are now new creatures in Christ, so as it states in Romans 7:5-6, “ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were  aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.  But now, have been delivered from the law,...”

As believers, we are no longer still “in the flesh,” but unfortunately, the flesh is still in us.  So, because we are redeemed, sin no longer controls us, as it did when we were an unbeliever, but sin can still contaminate us, and frustrate our inner desire to obey the will of God and to glorify Him with our life.

I speak to you as a fellow brother in the Lord who, unfortunately was controlled by the flesh for many years of my life, even when I thought I was saved.  After being unfaithful to my wife for the first 13 years of our marriage, even I had to admit there was no spiritual fruit in my life.  It took God using a near fatal motorcycle crash to finally get my attention.  Only then was I finally brought to repentance and faith in Christ.  Don’t learn the hard way, as I had to learn, anyone who is living a fleshly life of sensuality, and is unwilling to turn from it, is lost and has no inheritance in the Kingdom of God and Christ.  I had to put my sensual desire first in my life, and only God should occupy that place.  Listen to God’s warnings before fleshly sin takes over your life.