Ouch. “I am carnal.” That’s even worse than, “I am ugly,” or “I am an idiot.” It sounds so harsh! Yet, there it is in black and white – “I am carnal.” It doesn’t sound quite so bad if we say “I am flesh,” but the truth us still there. :”I am carnal” – yuck!
What does “I am carnal” mean? Pretty simple actually. The law is spiritual, it is of God, it is good, and it has achieved its purpose – it was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It has shown me my sin, and my carnality. The truth is I cannot blame the Law. I can only blame me, because at the end of the day, “I am carnal.” My flesh has no power over me. It is not my master, I am not subject to it. I am not subject to sin, but still I am carnal. I still am fleshly, I still live in the flesh and every single day of my life my flesh is going to cry out for attention.
I have a new life, and new Spirit, and a new power, yet still I am carnal. So what do I do? I wish the answer was deep, theological, and theoretical because then I could make excuses. Unfortunately, all the excuses are knocked out from under us. Paul later makes it clear – “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
I have a choice – do I walk after the Spirit or do I walk after the carnality of my flesh? It is up to me if I am going to yield to the Spirit’s control or am I going to gratify my screaming flesh. By the grace of God and through Christ living in me may I choose to follow the spirit and not my carnal desires.
No comments:
Post a Comment