40 Days of

Fighting the Flesh

Week 4 Devotions

Struggles With the Flesh

Day 20

Once in a while I like to take the time and watch some of the cartoons my kids are watching - just to make sure they are ok. Sometimes it happens that I actually get a real charge out of them. Spongebob Squarepants can really have some funny stories sometimes. A key component to the cartoon is how they play the characters off of one another. One character that just makes me laugh is a little plankton. He only stands about an inch tall but he talks with a bravado and confidence and tries to push people around. In one story, Plankton wanted to get a hold of a secret formula from Spongebob's restaurant - the Krusty Krab. So he climbed into Spongebob's brain, plugged in a remote control, and made Spongebob do things he didn't want to do. It didn't take Spongebob long to realize that somebody or something else was causing him to do things he didn't want to do. Other movies like the Manchurian Candidate have used the same concept.

Paul uses the same concept to describe what had happened to him - and why he acted the way he did. He wrote in Romans 7:14-24

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.

Notice how he almost personifies sin and treats it as a separate entity within himself - detaching himself from it's actions.

Now, we need to be clear, Paul didn't do this as an excuse for his sin. He didn't say that the sins he still committed as a Christian were somehow less serious just because of this. He still goes on to call himself a "wretched man" who needed to be rescued. Just because you are a Christian does not mean that you cannot excuse your sin with excuses such as, "the devil made me do it," or "I couldn't help it." You need to fight against this sinful nature within, even if you know it will be with you until the day you die.

So why does Paul treat it as an almost separate entity? I believe that it helped him and it helps us to understand and believe who we really are at our core. What I mean by that, is that when we do have a slip of the tongue or a lapse of judgment or do something really stupid - we need to recognize that these actions are not indicative of who we really are at our core. When we do those things, we might begin to wonder if we really have the Holy Spirit - because the Holy Spirit wouldn't say those things and a good Christian wouldn't usually do those things. We say to ourselves, "maybe I'm not really saved?" Understanding that we still have a sinful flesh - dead as it may be - that can still raise it's ugly head - is somewhat of a relief to us. In other words, we realize that we will have sins of weakness. It doesn't mean that we have lost the faith or that we are heathens if we have - in a fit of passion - cussed someone or flown off the handle. In the exact opposite manner, we will immediately recognize what a filthy thing came from our lips and repent of this action that came from our own body. When we still recognize this sinful nature within, we won't despair and wonder if God has forsaken us or we have forsaken God. The sorrow over our actions is proof of that.

Think about this also - the fact that EVEN the APOSTLE PAUL went through these struggles - shows us that you never reach a stage where the struggle ceases. That sinful nature continues even in the hardest working Christians. So don't despair when you find yourself acting sinful. Simply repent and cling to Christ all the more.

Key Point: Sinful nature is an ugly being within - but it is not the core of who we are. When we act according to it, it is not what we want to do. Treat it like an alien - living in a body where it doesn't belong.

Scripture Readings: Read Romans 7 and James 4. Note how the desires still come to Christians from within.

Day 21

One of the cheapest forms of entertainment over a prolonged period of time is camping. Camping is a great activity for the whole family to get involved in. They can help set up the tent, find wood for the fire, cook and eat food around the same fire, go swimming together, go hiking, sleep in the same tent, and play board games together as well.

There are some drawbacks to camping as well though. When it rains out, everyone is stuck inside. If the rain gets in the tent, it makes for a miserable night of sleep. You don't usually have access to a hot shower in the morning. The toilets are sometimes simple holes in the ground. At nighttime, you have to all huddle around a lantern in order to see anything. Even when it doesn't rain, it usually takes about two days or so for kids and even parents to start missing the amenities of home - the A/C or the heating, the padded beds and the toilets, the stove and the refrigerator.

Paul once compared living in this body to living in a tent, he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5, " Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Not only did Paul compare living in this body to living in a tent, but he also compared it to walking around naked. In World War II the Jews were stripped of their clothes and had to walk around naked before their captors. It made them feel ashamed and weak to have to go through such humiliation. In the same way, that's how we feel before our Lord when we live in our sinful bodies. We never feel worthy to stand in His presence. We always feel weak, battling some sin, undergoing some sickness. It makes us groan. It makes us wish we were more righteous, more holy, more strong to deal with this mortal life.

In comparison to camping, there are some similarities aren't there? There are things that we do enjoy down in this world. We enjoy our children, our jobs, our new cars, a good jog, or a family dinner at Thanksgiving. Yet in the midst of these enjoyments, we deal with hard work, heartache, and setbacks. So we groan about the weather, our health, our family, and so many other things.

This groaning can be a good thing for us though. I always used to make fun of those who went "camping" in a camper with a stove and A/C and a heater and all the other things you find in a home. I would say, "boy, they're really roughing it." If we lived in a home that didn't have leaks, in a life that didn't have groans, what wouldn't we do? We wouldn't want to leave! We'd want to stay here forever. Living with a sinful nature and the problems of sin - as painful as it may be - trains us to look forward to a much more permanent home in heaven. It helps us to rejoice when the flesh of our loved ones die, because we know that their mortality has been swallowed up with life.

Key Point: Living with sinful flesh means you will have struggles in this life - just like living in a tent. Let God use those struggles to make you look forward to heaven.

Scripture readings: 2 Corinthians 4-5.

Day 22

Some refer to alcohol as "liquid confidence." What they mean by that is that when you drink alcohol it lowers your natural inhibitions and makes you less tentative. What they fail to mention is that alcohol can also make you act like a complete idiot. There are people they call "angry drunks" also. If, on the inside, they repress their anger, when they drink alcohol - they feel free to let it out. This can get rather ugly and abusive at time. It would be better if those inhibitions were kept alive instead of loosened up. Whereas alcohol in moderation may be acceptable to those who know can keep it under moderation, it needs to be kept under control. How many sad stories are there of people who - while driving under the influence - have had an impaired judgment? The alcohol within told them they could make a turn or pass someone - only to find out that they were dead wrong.

Paul wrote to the Romans in Romans 12:3, "by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Paul tells us to look at ourselves with "sober judgment", not more highly than we ought. As much as we talked about what we COULD do with the death of our sinful nature in baptism, we need to remember that the sinful nature is still in us. This is what God uses as His sobering machine. Even when we find ourselves living the way that God calls us to live, we need to always keep the fact that we are sinful in our minds.

Why? Because it keeps us sober. We won't act like someone full of alcohol, thinking he is somebody he's not, and thinking that he's a smooth operator when anyone else can see and hear that he's as drunk as a skunk. God doesn't want us to end up so full of ourselves that we end up forgetting who we are. When we fail to do this, we become conceited and end up under the same judgment as the devil. (1 Timothy 3.)

There are many positive thinkers who think that it is debilitation to the Christian life to talk about ourselves as "sinners". Paul didn't see it that way. It is a sign of maturity in the faith to see yourself in this way. Paul said his outlook on life was because of the "grace given" him. He recognized that no matter how many times he was whipped, shipwrecked, or beaten for Christ - he was still the "chief of sinners" and still saved only by "grace" - God's undeserved love in Christ. When this happened, Paul was then able to approach life from a more realistic point of view - recognizing who really had the power in his life - the Holy Spirit. In this way, our concentration on the sinful nature can have a positive effect - keeping us humble and helping us to cling all the more to Christ.

Key Point: When we focus on and talk about the sinful nature it keeps us sober - reminding us that we will never be all that God demands us to be - helping us to despair of ourselves and cling to Jesus Christ.

Scripture Readings: Philippians 2, 1 Peter 5. Note the importance of humility in both.

Day 23

When a woman becomes pregnant it usually doesn't take long for her to figure it out. Usually her body becomes more sensitive to the touch and her senses also seem to have a sharpened sense of their surroundings. She may also find an aversion to smells and foods that she used to like before. When those things start happening, a woman will usually rush down to Wal-mart to test whether her body is telling her the truth. It usually is.

This "sixth sense" doesn't only occur with pregnancy, but in many aspects of life. Husbands and wives usually know when there seems to be more tension in the air between the two of them. They don't have to be told when the spark between them isn't as bright as it once was. They just know. The same is true spiritually. We usually have a sense for when we are getting weak spiritually. We can sense it when we get angry more easily. If we start using language we shouldn't use, or looking at things we shouldn't be looking at, we start saying to ourselves, "I need to get back into worship." That's a really critical part in our lives. Because if we ignore that "sixth sense", it can be disastrous.

Take for instance the story of Cain. Genesis 4:3-7 reads, "In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." In this instance the Lord even warned him as to what was happening within him. He blatantly warned him that sin was crouching at his door. But what did Cain do? Instead of slamming the door on his evil thoughts of vengeance, he allowed sin to come leaping through, as he went ahead and murdered Abel.

That's the way sin works. More often than not gross sin does not occur just on a spur of the moment. For a Christian, it first dwells in the heart for some time before actually coming to fruition. The young man keeps on thinking about having sex with a certain girl. The sin is crouching at his heart. Instead of repenting of it, he thinks more and more about it. The sin starts growing in his heart. James described it with the illustration of pregnancy. He wrote in James 1:13-15, "Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." Notice where sin begins - with HIS OWN EVIL DESIRE. The sinful flesh is sneaky in that it grows in us and attacks a little bit at a time. When it convinces us to excuse and allow the thoughts, the conception of sin has begun to give birth. It only grows from there.

Beware of this deception of sin. Some people want us to think that pornography stems rapists and predators. The exact opposite is true - it only feeds the passion for more - evenn in Christians. This is one case in which God encourages and promotes the abortion of a fetus - when the fetus is the sinful desire that grows within each of us. Do not let it grow. Use the dilution and evacuation of repentance and faith to rid it from your heart and brain. Throw it on the cross - and tell it to die. You can't assume that it won't grow if you keep feeding it. That's the way the sinful nature works - it feeds on thoughts and grows into full fledge sin - and then death.

Key Point: The sinful nature is very sneaky in the way it first of all attacks with desires and then thoughts and then actions. Beware of this sly approach and repent of it before it gives full birth to actions. Don't minimize something as "only a thought." That also is a sin.

Scripture Readings: Psalm 51 and Psalm 32. These penitential psalms are model prayers in the assistance of killing of the deceitful and sneaky flesh.

Day 24

Usually when kids play pretend - they act like people that are very talented or famous. When I was in grade school I can recall kids saying on the playground, "I'm Brian Winters. I'm Sidney Moncrief." These were the popular and talented men of the Milwaukee Bucks. What you DON'T see are kids playing the part of the losers and the average players. They try to pick the cream of the crop - unless they are somehow making fun of the less talented. Why would they do otherwise - unless they THOUGHT someone was talented when they really weren't?

The Corinthians, oddly enough, were doing that very thing - acting like someone who was not up to their par. Paul wrote them in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?" He told them that they were acting like "mere men." That's an interesting term - "mere men." In other words, men without the Holy Spirit are just men. There's nothing special about them - as important as they try to look. One thing that men like to do is play off of one another and compete with one another - seeing who is the best. Instead of despising that behavior, the Corinthians were emulating it - trying to act like the rest of the world around them. The same thing happened with the Israelites in the Old Testament when they wanted to have a king "like the rest of the nations" that were living around them.

It's easy to fall into that same temptation when it comes to our own sinful flesh. It wants to act like the other sinful people that it is surrounded with. There are different temptations for different flesh - depending on the surroundings and the stage of life you are in. You want to meld in - to be acceptable to your peers - and your sinful flesh tends to judge what is successful and good according to the same standards as what other sinners around you use. In high school, if everyone is wearing super baggy pants, then do you feel the need to wear super baggy pants - even if it means your underwear is showing? If everyone else in your office is showing cleavage, do you feel the need to do the same? If everyone on your block is buying an S.U.V., do you feel the need to? Paul asks the question, "why?" Why are you trying to act like mere men?

When that is our mind set - to think and act according to the standards of the world, it stunts our spiritual growth. Paul said to the Corinthians that he had to treat them like babies because they were acting like babies. Instead of giving them some more meaty topics, he had to re-address the very basics of Christianity - like humility and love. When you start judging what you have and who you are according to what the WORLD thinks is important, you'll start viewing the pastor's and Bible's message as "out of date" and antiquated. You'll view Bible study as boring and not applicable because it talks about people and places that were around thousands of years ago. It will hinder your growth.

This is a temptation - even for Christians to fall into. Your sinful flesh likes to live like a sheep - following where all the other sheep lead. The old saying runs true, "if everyone else jumps off of a bridge, does that mean you should?" This is a struggle you will have to deal with until the day you die. Beware of it the next time you think you just "have to" have or do something. Ask yourself, "who is talking here? The spirit or the flesh?" Then ask yourself, "why would I want to act like a mere man, when God has made me more than that?"

Key Point: Don't act like a "mere man." Don't emulate what the people of this world emulate. Life isn't about what your flesh thinks is cool or important. That's only your flesh talking.

Scripture Readings: 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Samuel 8 and 12. Note what acting like men and wanting to be like other men did for these people of God.

Day 25

Here's a really interesting quote on the Fall for you. It's actually written in the Mormon's doctrinal book called "Gospel Principles."

Some people believe Adam and Eve committed a serious sin when they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, latter-day scriptures help us understand that their fall was a necessary step in the plan of life and a great blessing to all of us. Because of the Fall, we are blessed with physical bodies, the right to choose between good and evil, and the opportunity to gain eternal life. None of these privileges would have been ours had Adam and Eve remained in the garden.

I couldn't believe that when I first read it. They are actually EMULATING the Fall as a good thing which gave man the ability to EARN his salvation according to the decisions he makes. I thought to myself, "you can't get any more anti-Christian than that!" But then, it amazed me even MORE when the same exact thoughts were spoken by popular theologians at our leading academies of America. They portrayed Adam as an idiot who was locked into perfection - who was then set free with Eve's decision to eat from the tree. I wonder to myself, "what Bible are they reading from?" It reminds me of what Isaiah said in Isaiah 5:20, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Whatever happened to the condemnation of sin and the need for the Savior?

These kinds of statements might amaze us, but really - should they? It's like Jesus said in Mark 4, they are "ever seeing but never perceiving," and "ever hearing but never understanding." A veil of sin has been placed over their brains and hearts. When they look at their fellow sinners - they treat some of them as if they were the greatest beings in the world. Kobe Bryant scores 80 points in a game! Angelina is pregnant! Sean Penn goes to New Orleans to assess the damage there. Dow Jones raises two hundred points! Steve Fawcett flies around the earth one and a half times! Satellite is sent to Mars!

Some of these are interesting and amazing achievements. Yet, in the big scheme of things, what do they really amount to? All of them are temporary - without much of a lasting importance in any way. Who's going to remember Steve Fawcett a hundred years from now? Who's going to care about Kobe Bryant if the war on terror escalates even more in the next few years?

James helps to put the flesh back into perspective. He writes in James 4, Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

Inevitably, the greater our accomplishes are, the more we are prone to pride. Sinful flesh is not that great in God's eyes. As Isaiah wrote, Isaiah 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Isaiah included his own works within those "filthy rags." A continuous struggle you will have with your own flesh - is to become a "navel gazer" so to speak - to become enamored with your own works of the flesh. You will want everyone to notice and say thank you for all of the great things you think you've done for them. Don't forget, these are only works of the flesh. Even our greatest works are tainted with sin. This is a good reminder to our own sinful pride that we're not as great as we think we are.

Key Point: The sinful flesh is never pretty in God's sight. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Even your greatest works as a Christian are not in and of themselves "great" - except by the grace of God.

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 59 and 64. Note the stress laid on sin and grace in both chapters.

Day 26

Come to class at 9:15 to learn more about the struggles with the flesh even after conversion!