“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Galatians 5:16-17).
When the Bible talks about the “lust of the flesh,” it is talking about the fleshly characteristics that we are born with. Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). The Bible is talking about the unregenerate person that has not been born of the Holy Spirit. From the moment that we are born we began to let the desires of the flesh be known. And if we are not catered to, we let everyone around us know of our displeasure. And it is fortunate that we weren’t stronger at that point in our life, or we would have torn the baby crib to pieces. That same trait dominates a person until they are born again by the Holy Spirit.
With some people the flesh does become a little more refined, but with others, they don’t really advance much from the crib. They are noisy and still demanding their own way or they will throw a fit and tear things apart. The old nature is the nature that is constantly insisting that things go our way, or we are not going to cooperate with anyone. It is manifested in the child who says, “If I can’t get things my way, I’m not gonna play with you anymore. I want my way! I want everyone to yield to my desires!”
The flesh life is all about the “I” life. The flesh life is the “me first” life. It is putting our needs and wants above the needs of others. And if they don’t like it, that’s tough! It’s that kind of an attitude. And that is what so many people think today, “I’m going to do it my way, it doesn’t matter who it hurts.” The flesh life says, “They offended me, I have a right to be upset; I have a right to be angry.” The flesh life is all about our selfish desires.
When a person puts their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, then the Holy Spirit comes into the person and becomes a part of that person’s life. It is at that point that the battle really begins within us. Before believing in Christ, the flesh was the absolute ruler, there wasn’t any battle with the Spirit at all. But as soon as the Holy Spirit is a part of our life, then the battle between the Spirit and the flesh begins. And until we leave this body that we live in on this earth this battle rages on between the Spirit and the Flesh.
When Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave, Lazarus came out of the grave still wrapped in his grave clothes. Jesus told the people to get those grave clothes off of Lazarus and let him go. That is a pretty good picture of a person’s condition at the time of their believing in Jesus Christ as their Lord. The person becomes alive spiritually but is still bound in the body of flesh, the clothes of the old sinful life. The difference is that the believer’s sinful clothes do not come off as easy or as quickly as Lazarus’ grave clothes. And believers are always being tempted to allow that old body of flesh to rule their lives. And there is that continuing battle with Satan, the worldly system and the fleshly body.
God has only one remedy for our flesh life, and it is not reformation. God knows that our flesh is so rotten that He doesn’t even try to reform it. And this is the problem with our man-developed programs that have been dreamed up by sociologists as they try to reform our society. God’s remedy is not reformation. He is not going to try to reform our old flesh. God’s remedy is for us to reckon our old flesh dead, not to reform it. Paul wrote, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” (Romans 6:11-12).
How do you reckon the fleshly body to be dead to sin? By not allowing yourself to get caught up into the desires of the flesh, just say “no” to your fleshly desires. What are some of these fleshly desires? Paul tells us that adultery, fornication, impurity, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, thieves, slanderers and greed are some of the fleshly desires (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21).
What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Jesus told us how to walk in the Spirit when he said to love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our strength and all of our mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:27). How do we practice this godly love in our everyday life? Paul tells us how: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
Is walking after the Spirit easy? Of course not! Paul wrote, “Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). Only a strong faith in Jesus Christ will give us the power to deny the flesh and walk in the Spirit, and live to please God.