1 Thessalonians 2:2
“As you are aware, we had already endured suffering and shameful treatment in Philippi. But in the face of strong opposition, we were bold in our God to speak the gospel of God to you.”
The last two entries spoke of the opposition we face as christians. We receive it from other people. Secondly we focused on the opposition we face from the evil one, the devil. Today we will focus on the opposition we face from ourselves.
This also sounds odd, for why would we sabotage our own efforts? We are comprised of body, soul and spirit. These don’t always work in unison. When we become christians our soul and spirits are redeemed, but our bodies are still fallen. When we finally die, our bodies stay on earth, while our spirits and souls go to heaven.
Paul describes this dilemma in Romans 7:21, “…on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” This is frustrating. Our hearts and minds want to serve The Lord, but our bodies want other things.
How do we win this battle? Galatians 5:16 says, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” This is God’s way. What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? First, we immerse ourselves in His Word. This guides us and gives us direction. But it’s much more than that. His Word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). Jesus referred to it as a plant that if tended will grow (Luke 8:5). We become more in tune with The Lord through this process.
We will sense an ungodly desire at it’s infancy. We learn to starve it and further feed the spiritual parts of ourselves. While the desires of our human selves can be in opposition to God’s ways, we learn to resist them.
Lord, thanks that You want us to walk in the Spirit. Help us to resist the ungodly parts of ourselves.