There are a number of milestones that we celebrate with our children. We celebrate when they are potty-trained, when they can buckle themselves into their car seats, and especially when they learn how to walk. Walking seems like such an easy idea. It is just simply putting one foot in front of the other and heading a certain direction. Children don’t learn this immediately but over time, and after a number of falls, they learn how to walk.
There is a large behemoth of a man that plays football for the Seattle Seahawks, named Jimmy Graham. In a game toward the end of the 2015/2016 season, Jimmy tore his patella tendon. I know very little about the nature of his injury but I did understand that many athletes do not come back 100% from this kind of setback. Now doing well, Jimmy reflected back on his recovery and mentioned that his first step to recovery was learning how to walk again. That struck me. What would it be like to have known how to walk and then suffer a setback that you would have to relearn how to walk?
This is exaclty what Paul tells us happens when we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. We are given the Holy Spirit who teaches us how to walk a completely different way than we have been accustomed too. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Following the Spirit is to be as easy as walking for the believer.
But there is a battle going on. Galatians 5:17 tells us, “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants,” and Romans 8:6 tells us, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” To be carnally minded is death. But spiritually minded is life and peace. Jesus has freed you from the flesh and sinful nature and has elevated you to a higher place of peace and joy. But when a believer chooses to live carnally death is produced.
When our priority is to live in the material realm…we are living carnally.
The flesh nature is insatiable. It regularly meditates on; what new hobby can I enjoy? What vacation can I take? What food can I consume? Living in the flesh leaves terrible scars and sets a standard for generations to come.
So why is living in the flesh death? Man was created in the image of God. Just as the Godhead is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are created Spirit, Soul, and Body. What is commonly referred to as Trichotomy.
The spirit is the deepest part of you that lives eternally…the real you. God-consciousness, faith/assurance, hope/confidence/expectation, love/communication & motivation all reside here. The spirit is nurtured by the flow of the Holy Spirit. The soul is the mind and emotions. Self-consciousness, intellect/mind, emotions/feelings, will/choices & actions are housed here. The soul may yield to disobedience and is often the territory that is fought for by the spirit or body. The body is this thing we live in temporarily. World-consciousness, 5 senses, may yield to indulgence/sensuality, physical well-being, appearance/action. The body may be self-serving or God-pleasing.
When God created man in the garden, there was a beautiful connection between the spirit of man and the spirit of God. They walked together in the cool of the day. Then man sinned. Man gave into his flesh. Seeing the fruit that was forbidden pleased his flesh to eat the fruit. He allowed his body/flesh to become the priority but this does not relate to the Spirit of God. It is death.
Jesus’ desire for every Christian is to have our spirit communing regularly with His Spirit. As we do this, our soul becomes refreshed by truth and our minds become transformed by the renewing grace of the Word of God. “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you…” (Romans 8:9). The word “dwells” means to be at home. Is the Spirit of God at home in your life or is He grieved? Is He at home in your life or are you trying invite Him to mix with fleshly thinking and living.
This war is won by walking in the Spirit. Pursue Him. Ask Him to work in your life. Listen to Him. If you’re going to seek the Spirit’s leading in your life, you’re going to need to learn how to listen. “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).