Romans 8:13
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.
Why should we die to self? Our body
is controlled by sin since the fall of man and the fruits of our flesh are
always sin and the wages of sin is death. The HOLY Spirit can interact only
with our human spirit, comprising of our insight and conscience. The soul,
which has all the emotions, decision-making authority and will power, is stuck
between the lusts of the flesh (which produces sin) and the desires of the
spirit (which pleases God). Our soul yields to the one, which dominates in us -
either the flesh or the spirit. The flesh has to be put to death, if we need to
allow our spirit to succeed, so that we could please God.
God
allows disappointments and failures when we act in flesh, only to slay our
flesh in the process, so that spirit could take the lead and produce good
fruits. Watchman Nee says that anything that comes from the flesh is impure and
is against God - Even our natural goodness cannot please God. This is because,
our human goodness is limited and cannot stand beyond a certain limit. For
example, a person may be naturally kind and patient. But beyond certain limit
of testing (of his patience), that person may burst out and hence cannot
completely please God by his own natural goodness. Our flesh always tries to
pacify the lusts of our "Self", which leads to sin and keeps us away
from God. We must be aware that our flesh tries to even get involved in
spiritual activities. If we strive hard to win souls by our fleshly activities,
without the moving of the Spirit in us, we would have no fruit which would
Please God but we would end up nurturing our own pride and lusts. Pleasing our
God is possible when we act in our spirits, by the triggering of the HOLY
Spirit and our flesh must be put to death so that our spirit is not
extinguished by the lustful and ever active flesh. All our natural traits and
characteristics must be put to death, so that we can enjoy a life led by the
HOLY Spirit.
How do we know our flesh is still
active?? To answer this question, we must be aware of the truth that till we
die, our “flesh” keeps on trying to take control – which would, in turn,
enslave us to sin. So, as long as we live, there is constant battle between our
flesh and our Spirit – to gain control over us. If we find ourselves impatient,
lying, deceiving others, complaining and grudging, feeling jealous seeing
others’ victory, feeling proud for our accomplishments, giving into temptations
– succumbing to the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of flesh and the pride of life
- these symptoms in us, give the hint that our flesh is in control. The only
way to get rid of our “self” is allowing God’s correction and molding – which
may be through those difficult circumstances, those “Why God, Why?” moments,
those failures and disappointments.
When we live in the Spirit, we know it by the fruits as described
in Galatians 5: 22, 23 - 22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.
When God deals with our flesh, let us accept it patiently,
since it is the HOLY Spirit who will gain control in us in the end and we would
be able to please God. Let us pray that the HOLY Spirit would come upon us and
help us put our flesh to death on a daily basis, so that the spirit wins,
bringing victory to God.