Winning the War Against Our Flesh

The Bible says that when we become Christians, we become a new creation and old things pass away. All I have to say about that is that nobody must have told the flesh it’s supposed to be dead. For most Christians, their greatest challenge in trying to live a vibrant Christian life does not come from the devil but from their own flesh.

Before I became a Christian almost 30 years ago, I loved drinking beer and wine, and I blasted my music for the neighborhood. As soon as I accepted Christ, I was immediately liberated from these habits. Since that day I have never once been tempted to drink any kind of alcohol. People could immediately see the change that Christ had made in my life. On the other hand, some shortcomings in my flesh did not change when I met Christ. I still tended to be impatient with others, for instance. And at times, I still had the bursts of anger I had before, though not nearly as much as before.

I know Christians who still struggle with giving up cigarettes. Personally, I have trouble understanding this, but then I have never smoked in my life so I try not to be too critical in this area. The reason we have struggles in the flesh is because “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17, KJV). This verse tells us that our flesh and our spirit are diametrically opposed to each other. So when the Spirit tells us to go right, our flesh says to go left, and vice versa.

It’s important for us to understand that this verse was written to Christians (the churches of Galatia). The clear message therein is that even after becoming a new creation in Christ, Christians still have struggles in the flesh. We must be careful, however, not to try using the above passage as an excuse for living a fleshly-driven life. Some Christians try making the argument that until God delivers them from a bad habit, they have no choice but to give in to their flesh.

Not so fast. In the same letter that Paul the apostle wrote to the Galatians, he was inspired to pen these words as well: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). This verse is key to winning our battle with the flesh. It acknowledges that we have desires in the flesh, but we don’t have to fulfill them. We must choose instead to walk in the Spirit. That means we must obey the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and not our flesh. In other words, living a victorious life in Christ requires us to make the choice to do so.

I don’t want to trivialize this matter. Winning the battle with our flesh can be difficult. Not because our flesh is any match for God. On the contrary, He has provided us more than enough to live victoriously for Him. The problem is that, by and large, the desires of our flesh are things we like doing or that feel good to us, and it’s hard for us to wage war on the things we enjoy. That’s why I said at the beginning that for most Christians, their greatest challenge in their quest to live a vibrant Christian life does not come from the devil but from their own flesh. Comments, anyone?

Copyright ©2010 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

Remember to Praise God

Yesterday as I walked into our bedroom, I heard these words: “praise God.” It came from a clock on the wall that I will refer to in this post as the praise-God clock. We won it last year at a birthday celebration for my wife’s oldest sister. The clock is supposed to yield the words praise God every hour throughout the day.

Though it seldom works now, the clock never missed a beat the first few months we had it. Sometimes, those two words from the clock would penetrate the quietness of my meditating on something or on nothing while lying in the bed. Many times when praising God was not on my mind, the clock reminded me of the need to do so. At times, I accepted the invitation and began to render thanksgiving and praises.

I believe most Christians have room for improvement in the area of praising God and rendering thanksgiving to Him. Here are a couple of problem areas I have observed. The first one has to do with the goodness of God. Why do I refer to that as problematic? Because for some of us, God has been so good for so long that we take it all for granted. He has been faithful such that we just expect Him to continue doing so. So we get up in the morning, eat what we want for breakfast, drive our car to work, put in a full day’s work in the office, and so forth, never telling God thank You. We must be careful that we never, never become complacent toward the Lord’s goodness.

The second problem area has to do with the unpleasant situations we can find ourselves in. It is much easier to praise God when we are happy or when things are going our way than it is to do so when we feel as though life has dealt us a bad hand. Yet even during those times, we are commanded to be thankful-- “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

When we are being greatly tested, and there just isn’t much to write home about, our obedience to the verse above can be quite challenging. But let’s bear in mind that this verse is written to believers in Christ. And here are several things that are true about every Christian: Every one has been born again, every one is destined to live with the Lord eternally, and “many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). I believe these are ample reasons for us to be thankful and to praise God, no matter what our situation in life is. Our challenges pale in comparison to these great truths. I am not making light of anyone’s situation. My only point is that we should always count God worthy of thanksgiving and praises. Perhaps it would help if we hung a praise-God clock on the wall to remind us.

Copyright ©2010 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

How to Build Strong Relationships

Recently, several high profile couples have made national news because of serious marital problems. They include Tiger Woods and his wife Elin, and Sandra Bulloch and her husband Jesse James. They have lots of company. I only mention them because of their notoriety. The question is, what must couples do to build  strong relationships?

There are some who would say this issue is no big deal. They argue that people marry and divorce every day, and life goes on, end of story. That’s an attitude that scares me. I believe that a relationship between a husband and wife should be held in much higher regard. Furthermore, I don’t believe that most husbands and wives who make a mess of their marriage get up one day and decide to screw everything up. Rather, I believe most people need some help—lots of help—in this area. Divorce is ugly, painful, and costly, and there are no true winners.

Since this is a Christian blog and I am a Christian, I should argue that having the right relationship with God is vital for a husband and wife, or for a man and woman who are dating, if they are to build strong relationships. That is certainly my conviction. Wasn’t God the one who came up with the idea of and who ordained marriage? However, just because a man and a woman are Christians and they love each other do not guarantee a vibrant relationship! Let me quickly share with you three important points on how to build lasting and strong relationships:

1. A strong relationship requires hard work. Strong marriages and relationships between a man and a woman are not happenstance. Every couple has to work at it. Believe me, the honeymoon expires, and the dream world comes to an end. Also, with time, you will see the side of your mate that you haven’t before. And though through marriage two become one, each person is still an individual with personal aspirations and dreams and God-given potential. Couples must work through these and other issues, and sometimes the work is hard.

2. To build a lasting relationship, couples must labor to keep it fresh over time. Why do we think that because we are married, we no longer have to date one another? Or that longevity gives us a license to take each other for granted? The longer the relationship lasts, the more difficult it can be to keep things from going stale. I know something about this; my wife and I have been married for over 31 years. On the other hand, the longer we have been with someone, the better we know what pleases them. These are the switches we must turn on to keep the fire burning.

3. To build a strong relationship, couples must weather the climate changers. What are those? They are the things that can happen during the life of a relationship that can change its very climate. The person we met five years ago might not be the same person today, though they are really the same person. My point is that people and things change over time, and these changes can become game changers in a relationship. Other examples include the arrival of that first child, a serious health problem in one mate, financial woes, etc. We can’t cry foul when life throws our relationship a curve ball or two. Like good soldiers, we must endure (2 Tim. 2:3).

When I was a church pastor, I shared in much greater detail the points above. They help couples think beyond the honeymoon stage, and to see the big picture of their relationship. Doing so increases their chance of success. If I had to sum up things in one statement, it would be that strong relationships must be built on the foundation of faithfulness—faithfulness first to God and then to our mate. This is a simple truth that takes a lifetime to master.

Copyright ©2010 by Frank King. All rights reserved.