Life on the Highest Plane
God's law of sowing and reaping in the spiritual realm is as inexorable as it is in the material realm. If we sow to "the flesh" we shall reap of "the flesh." What folly for a Christian woman to think she can sow to "the flesh" in mannish hair dress, indecent clothes, trashy books and worldly pleasures and then reap in return an unspotted husband, Christian children and spiritual fellowship in the home! And what inconceivable absurdity for a church to sow to its young people the dance and the movie and expect to reap a prayer meeting or a revival! To which are you sowing your time, your strength, your money - to "the flesh" or to the Spirit?
What things do you "mind"? It is a strong word. Upon what things are your mind, heart, will set? In what kind of things are you so immersed as to be oblivious to other things? With the desire for what kind of things are you saturated? With a consuming, compelling passion for what kind of things are you filled? You are responsible for the direction your desires take because in cooperation with the Holy Spirit He will direct you away from the things of "the flesh" toward the things of the Spirit. Are you making provision for "the flesh" in the things that you "mind"?
The world judges a Christian very largely by his "walk." To a world deaf to every other kind of a message the Christian may witness by his "walk." But what kind of a witness is the Christian if the worldly man finds him walking just where and just as he walks? What power will a Christian walking "in the flesh" have to deliver a sinner from the sphere of the flesh? Here is largely the secret of the shameful fruitlessness of the Church of Christ in the world today. Are you walking "in the flesh" or in the Spirit?
God commands every believer to take a definite, decisive attitude toward "the flesh" and to maintain it by the Holy Spirit's power under all circumstances.
1 Peter 2:11, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."
Galatians 5:24, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts."
It resolves itself into a total abstinence of all that feeds or fosters the life of "the flesh" and a full appreciation of all that starves and stifles it.
(3) Ignore the Claims of the Flesh
Romans 8:12, "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh."
"The flesh" is a fighter and will never abdicate the throne of its own will nor will it ever renounce its claim upon the believer's life. We owe "the flesh" nothing: we owe the Saviour, who severed us from its deadly, deathly poison, everything. Our invariable, unswerving attitude to every claim of "the flesh" upon us should be one of insistent refusal. It is the believer's privilege in the face of any claim it may advance to quietly, persistently say, "I am dead to that thing." Take sides instantly with the Holy Spirit whenever "the flesh" puts forth a claim to any part of your life and victory in Christ will be yours.
(4) Mortify the Members of the Body
Colossians 3:5, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."
Romans 8:13, "For if ye life after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."
The body is the playground of "the flesh." Through it as a channel the believer is continuously open to temptation; its members have long been the tools of sin. But by yielding every member of the body as an instrument of righteousness to Jesus Christ we may cooperate with the Holy Spirit in routing "the flesh" from its long fortified stronghold.
We Must Cast Off the Old Man
Ephesians 4:22, "That ye put away as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxed corrupt after the lusts of deceit."
Colossians 3:9, "Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds."
The old nature is cast aside as a filthy, worthless garment. It is as though a beggar had become betrothed to the King of all the earth and cast aside her filthy rags that she might don her bridal robe.
The Lord Jesus in Control
But the conquest of the old nature is but the negative side of a life that is spiritual. The positive aspect of it is the supernatural control of every department of the believer's being by the Lord Jesus. It was not enough that the children of Israel should cross the Jordan, they were commanded to possess the land and by dispossessing every enemy live in victory and peace.
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 6)
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