Born of the Spirit while living in the flesh. A water source cannot put out sweet and salty water. A good tree cannot grow bad fruit. Yet a Christian who is born again can also have a desire to live in the flesh. Why does this happen?
We feed the beast. We contaminate ourselves by what we perceive. We are sullied by participation in flesh centred activities. Being with like minded people only hastens our destruction.
To change the destructive behaviour…
The internal man has to change.
This cannot be done through the exercise of will-power. Even if we successfully stop sinning we become less fit for the kingdom of heaven. Denial of the flesh only hardens the heart.
We are changed by the gift of self-control, a fruit of the Spirit. The growth of our spirit increases that self-control. The way this is done is through pruning. God prunes out activities and people that feed the beast. He replaces it with God centred activities and Christ centred people. The more time we spend with his Spirit in these God centred activities the more we grow. Our being with like-minded people aids us on our road to glory.
Will-power is the ability to stop… Failure!
Self-control is the ability to direct… Victory!
Interesting post, Joe.
I’m currently having a discussion with some other Christians about ethics. That’s always interesting. Anyway, I’m suggesting that if all deception was removed, including self-deception, that the answers to ethical questions would be obvious.
In my other blog (not the sheep one – trying to keep that one light), I talked about a study… I won’t go into detail on your nice blog here… anyway, a big part of my point was/is that if you feed a bad fantasy, you get a dangerous result.
So, this posting of yours caught my attention.
Oh, thanks for linking me. I’ve linked you in return.
Laurie
Thanks Laurie,
I am enjoying one of your blogs and being informed by the other… a great combination. I appreciate the link you placed to my site.