When the Flesh Fights Back

Have you ever had unwanted thoughts flood your mind? Maybe they were thoughts about what you assumed others thought of you? The list can go on…

We all have been in that state of mind, when we felt out of control. Certainly, I have.

Prudence went on to ask Christian another question:

"But don't you still waver sometimes when you think of the things you were accustomed to?"

Christian replied, "Yes, I struggle, but I don't want to. The inward and carnal thoughts which all of my countrymen, as well as myself, delighted in—are especially troublesome. All those things are my grief now. If I could choose to have things my way, I would choose never to think of those former things again. But when I want to do what is best, that is when I find the worst is what motivates me."

Christian admits that he is at most times a slave to his old ways, like Paul who wrote, “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”

Romans 7:15 “Even after Paul’s conversion he was still conscious of his imperfection. This caused a sense of uneasiness and concern (SDA Bible Commentary, p. 556). Matthew Henrew comments: “this corrupt nature is as troublesome to Paul as if he had a dead body tied to him. This made him cry out, O wretched man that I am!”

In Romans Chapter 7 Paul longs to be free from his former desires, suspicion, pride, anger much like Christian.

Then in Romans 7:25, Paul thanks Jesus Christ, who comes with power that can change us from sin to holiness through His grace. In Galatians 2;20, Paul wrote, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:” here he means that he was dependent on Christ for the origin and maintenance of his new and better life.” (SDA Bible Commentary, p. 556).

If I can simplify the above paragraph, for a while I struggled as Paul and Christian did, until I learned this simple lesson: an apple tree does not try to shake its branches to produce apples. This process happens naturally because of the tree’s connection with the branch, so too, a Christian overcomes his sins gradually, not because he does this and avoids that, but because of His constant connection with Jesus.

I am slowly learning the more I filter my thoughts with the question, “Is this coming from the flesh?” I am learning to give more grace to myself, because it is not the same me anymore, but the old unsaved Geoffrey, trying to reclaim the throne that Jesus now occupies in my heart.