"Brothers and sisters: You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. We are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:9, 12-13).
When I use to read in scripture about sins of the flesh I thought it was talking about sexual sin and didn’t think it had much relevance for me. As I have grown in my faith these past several years, I realize that living in the flesh incorporates all of the things that pull me toward the temporary things of this world and away from Christ. God gave us this world and people in our lives to love but when we allow them to be placed before God; that is when we are living according to the flesh. I long for peace but I am not going to find it in my job, or financial security or attention from others. Peace only comes through an ongoing conversion of heart, intellect and will by surrendering them to the Lord. True peace is cultivated in the soul when we overcome selfishness, which craves only worldly things which feed the flesh. In this peace we begin to grow weary of worldly things. As we allow the Spirit to reside in us we are drawn to live as Christ lived. We seek out ways to meet the needs of others, we rejoice with those who love the Lord. We forgive more, knowing how much God has forgiven us.
As Christians, we are called to be free of our old self and take on our new self in Christ. “To walk in the Spirit is to cease striving in our own strength and goodness, and to walk in His. It is to celebrate our smallness, or inadequacy apart from Him. It is to admit that He alone is righteousness. To walk in the Spirit is to live in the present moment, always looking to Christ, always practicing His Presence, always moving in tandem with Him” (Restoring the Christian Soul by Leanne Payne, p.53).
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