1Thessalonians 5:23(NKJV) contains both God’s promise to make us holy and His expectation that we will carry out His promise by living holy. This verse says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are three-part beings, human-spirit, human-soul, and human-body. Through our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God has made it possible for us to keep all three parts blameless throughout our lives. This means that we can live totally and completely by the leadership of God’s Spirit. Following God’s indwelling Holy Spirit is how we keep all parts of us blameless. 1Corinthians 6:19 declares that our bodies, our earth suit, is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that we belong to God lock, stock, and barrel. So, He’s clear that we should not let our flesh, the human body, control us. Instead, we must control it by walking in submission and humility towards the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
The human body is not bad. It’s beautiful beyond our imaginations. The Psalmist said in Psalm 139:14(NKJV), “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” We are so intricately and magnificently woven together by God that human beings in all their intelligence and ingenuity, cannot create another human being. We ca produce them, but we can’t create them. Our Heavenly Father is the Giver of life, and Genesis 1:27(NLT) says, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” There was nothing unnatural, unseemly, ugly, evil, dishonest, foreign, or impure about the human body when God created it. Until sin entered the picture, the human-body was the perfect house for the soul and spirit of human beings.
We were not created to be ruled by the flesh, but to be ruled by the Spirit, so that we can live in fellowship and harmony with our Creator, who is holy and righteous in every way. God doesn’t commune with evil, darkness, or sin. He created us in His own image so that we would be perfectly suited for relationship with Him. Galatians 5:13(NLT) tells us, “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.” When we live according to the flesh, or let the flesh rule our choices and decisions, we are being ruled by sin, and this is dangerous way to live. Galatians 5:17(NLT), tells us, “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”
When we’re being controlled by our sinful nature, we hear and see things that travel on that same level. And the enemy wants to keep us blinded and unable to clearly hear the Spirit’s voice so that we fall prey to his tricks. This is a great danger. God tells us in 1Peter 5:8(NLT), “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” We need to keep our eyes and ears open and focused on God so we can remain alert and watchful for the traps the enemy lays. Jesus Christ told us in John 10:10 that the only reason that the enemy is in the earth is to steal, kill, and destroy; and he has no mercy. When our eyes and ears are glued to the Father, we’re protected. We can hear Him when He tells us through the Spirit to go left or to go right. He gives us strategies and keeps our feet from falling, but we have to pay attention to the Father and remain in harmony with His Will.
Another serious danger of walking in the flesh is missing what the Father has in store for our lives. Proverbs 10:22(NLT) tells us, “The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” This is the power of our God. He lavishes His unfailing love on us, and He wants the best for us every moment of our existences, but many of us walk away from God. Either because of our own agendas of personal gain or because we place too much confidence in the flesh, we allow ourselves to slip further from the Lord. The Good News is that we can make a change and embrace God at any point, and He will accept us, forgive us when we earnestly ask, and help us in every way.
Through the Apostle Paul, God tells us in Ephesians 4:17-24(NLT), “17 With the Lord's authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that isn't what you learned about Christ. 21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God--truly righteous and holy.” This is our responsibility as God’s sons and daughters, and it’s a privilege and honor to live in Christ and to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead every moment of our lives.
We must recognize that there’s a danger in placing our confidence in the flesh. It will not lead to success, but instead, it will leave us disappointed, and we will miss the blessings and treasures God has in store for our lives. Our confidence must be in God. We must walk by His Holy Spirit, and if our attention is focused on our Heavenly Father, we will hear and recognize the Spirit’s voice. We will be able to trust that we are making wise choices and decisions that please God, and we can be confident that the Spirit will always keep us on the righteous and prosperous path of God’s truth. ■Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“The Danger of Placing Your Confidence in the Flesh” written by Vince Mack. Blessing Beads and More© 2024. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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