We all have an ongoing struggle with our flesh, one that will never go away till Jesus returns or we die and go to heaven. After we are saved we still battle the flesh through victorious times and times where we loose heart. As I was reading Romans 8 this morning I was again reminded of the battle between walking in the flesh and walking in the spirit. Paul makes some statements that should make one think. He says in verse 13, “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.” I started asking myself the question, how can one who is saved die (referring to eternal death).
As I pondered on this question for a while I think I understood what Paul was saying. God inspired Paul to pen those words for a reason, and I believe that reason is to serve as a warning to believers that if we live according to our flesh we will die. The life that we have in us is not a fleshly life but a spiritual life. This life comes through Christ. If we walk in the flesh we are denying where our life and vitality comes from. Think about this. You can be deprived of oxygen for a few seconds and still continue to live. Those few seconds could be rough and you might experience some effects from it, but it will not kill you. You can not be completely deprived from oxygen for hours and still live. Why? Because your body needs oxygen to breathe. The same is true with our spiritual lives. To stay spiritually vital we need to walk in the Spirit. The minute we do not walk in the Spirit but in the flesh, it is like our body being deprived of oxygen.
Am I saying that a Christian can fall away? No, but if our salvation was left up to us we would. Verses like these serve as a good wake up call to remind us if we continue to walk in the flesh we will die. The beauty of this is that Christ will not let us stay in this position. He will open our eyes to see that we are walking in the flesh, and He will restore us unto Himself, if you are truly saved.
In verse 13 Paul says, “But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” This part of verse 13 spoke volumes to me this morning. This is a calling to action. Christians, our lives are a life of action. In this verse we are called to put to death, to kill, to destroy the deeds of the flesh. That is present tense. We need to become violent against our flesh so the flesh can be put to death. If we fight against our flesh until we get victory and then stop putting it to death, we have just let the flesh continue to live. Putting the flesh to death should be an on-going battle continuing moment by moment.
If you continue reading in Romans 8 Paul says in verses 14 and 15, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father.”” In this verse Paul refers to Christians as sons (daughters) of God. Think about this. We are the children of God, and we often times take this lightly. Just think on the implications of being a child of God. Think about your children and how they call on you when they need help. They look to you to provide for them. There are many more implications. We are children of God. He says we have the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, call aloud, exclaim Father or Daddy. Oh, how we tend to get independent and think that we can do this, the Christian life, on our own. We need our Father. He is waiting for us to call out to Him asking for His help, but we are so stubborn.
What deeds of the flesh do you battle with? Cry out to Your Father who has made a way for you to put those things to death. He will help you in your battle with these things if only you will call out to Him.
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