The Struggle Begins

Not long ago I received a letter from a young man who told me of his intense struggles with the flesh. He described his discouraging track record of defeat after defeat, almost echoing Paul's cry in Romans 7:24: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

It was easy for me to relate to his experience. All of us have suffered through similar tough times in our walk with the Lord. Although we long for a life that pleases God, the power of the flesh proves too much for us and we fail.

Throughout the history of the church, men have searched for ways to get the flesh under control. There was a time when many Christians believed that the only way to achieve victory was to lock themselves in a closet at a monastery. They would deny themselves contact with anything or anyone who could possibly make them stumble. But even a casual look at the diaries they left behind shows that isolation didn't help.

Jerome, the famous theologian of the early church, lived for many years in a room that amounted to little more than a cage. His only contact with the outside world was a tiny window through which he would receive his meals. He closed himself off from everything and everybody in order that he might give himself totally to the study of God's Word, meditation, and prayer. But his personal journals record that the strictness of his lifestyle and the thickness of the surrounding walls didn't keep a barrage of horrible thoughts, imaginations, and fantasies away from his mind as he sat in his dark little cubicle.

Our help doesn't come until we realize the answer is far beyond our own resources. Crying out to God is the secret to our deliverance.

The flesh is a terribly strong enemy. Some Christians fight a losing battle with the flesh their entire walk with the Lord. They feel like the Israelites, who perished in the wilderness without ever entering into God's rest.

Why do such believers never enjoy God's victory? It's simple: they spend all their effort and energy trying to live a godly life in their own strength. Instead of turning their lives and struggles over to God, they keep searching for some new technique, some new method, some new program for righteousness. And none of them ever work.

As long as any of us try to deliver ourselves from "the body of this death" by desperately searching for another program or a formula to guide our efforts, we will fail. Our help doesn't come until we realize the answer is far beyond our own resources. Amazingly, crying out to God in weakness is the secret to our deliverance.

Not Another Self-Improvement Program

Our total powerlessness is a difficult thing for most of us to admit. We like to think of ourselves as strong, capable people, able to handle our own affairs. How many times have we started some self-improvement program, convinced that if we would just set our minds to it, we could easily lose a few pounds or get back in shape or eliminate a bothersome habit? But the sad fact is that as long as we think we can change our own lives by our own power, we never will.

One of the greatest barriers to growth in the Christian life is the notion that we can live a life that pleases God by our own efforts. If we think we can do this, we will try to take credit for it. "See, putting away that bad habit wasn't so hard! I knew I could do it!" At that point we are not giving God glory, but writing a success story with ourselves as the star. We begin telling others how our formula will work for them as well, and God becomes further and further removed from the picture. Predictably, despite our great self-confidence, the first wind of tragedy or disappointment causes our whole house of cards to come crashing down around our ears.

God will allow us to follow these self-help, self-improvement programs until we have tried them all. He will allow us to play out our own efforts until we finally come to the honest confession, "I can't do it. I can't be righteous in my own strength. Oh, wretched man that I am!" Such honesty is extremely difficult for us because it forces us to admit our own inability, failure, and weakness. We hate to come to these conclusions because they repudiate our pride.

It is only when we admit our utter powerlessness, however, that we find hope. When we finally turn to the grace of God, the Lord intervenes and begins to do a work that we could not do for ourselves. It is not until we find ourselves driven by desperation to a cry of helplessness and hopelessness that we begin to enjoy real victory in Christ.

The Struggle Begins

In one sense, the fact that a battle exists at all is a real cause for rejoicing. If we hadn't been made alive spiritually by God, there would be no conflict. If my spirit were still dead in trespasses and sins, I wouldn't be struggling with evil desires. I would dive right in and live after the flesh. The fact that we find ourselves in this fight is strong proof that we are indeed children of God.

And we are in a fight. Who can deny there is a ferocious battle going on inside each of us? In Galatians 5:17 the apostle Paul tells us, "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."

Peter knew all about this struggle. At one time the burly fisherman boasted to Jesus that even if all the other disciples fled, he would not. Yet before the night was out he denied his Lord three times. Jesus had been right all along: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Like Peter, we oftentimes react impulsively before we can get a grip on ourselves. We want to do right but find ourselves doing wrong. As Paul wrote, "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans 7:21-23).

We cannot know God's victory until we realize a war for control is constantly being waged within our members between the Holy Spirit and our flesh. Our flesh is not yet dead. Although we began to taste and enjoy the benefits of the Spirit when we committed our lives to Christ and although the fleshly nature was taken off the throne of our lives, the battle is not yet over. Before our conversion the flesh enjoyed dominating and controlling our lives, and until our bodies are redeemed, it will never give up its struggle to bring us back under its power.

Are Our Desires Wrong?

It is important at this point that we not make the mistake of thinking that our bodily drives and appetites themselves are evil. Our bodily desires were created by God and are absolutely necessary for sustaining life.

The strongest of all fleshly desires is our drive for air. There is nothing wrong with breathing, but it is possible to twist this natural function and use it to inhale cocaine. In so doing we take a natural, God-given function and pervert it to an unnatural end. The Bible calls that "sin."

Second only to the drive for air is our body's craving for moisture. There is nothing at all wrong with thirst, until we decide to quench it by sitting in a bar throwing down drinks until we can barely see straight. Again, we take a natural drive and use it for a purpose other than that for which God intended.

Our next strongest drive is hunger. There is nothing ungodly about eating, until we become so consumed with food that it begins to affect our health. Normally we associate an abuse of our natural desire for food with gluttony, yet equally harmful is the obsession some have with being thin. They live to count calories and compulsively exercise themselves into the ground. This, too, is sin.

The sex drive was created by God not only for procreation but also as a beautiful expression of mutual love between a husband and wife. But when we take this drive and make a pleasure toy out of it, love is no longer the focus and it becomes wrong.

Do you see how the twisting of all these beautiful, God-given drives for selfish gain becomes a thing that wars against the Spirit? All these bodily appetites were given to us by God, but He never intended that any of them should rule over us. They are a necessary part of life, but He did not design for them to dominate our lives.

Jesus said that if all we think about is what we're going to eat, drink, or wear, then there is no difference between ourselves and pagans (see Matthew 6:31,32). A person who doesn't know God can do nothing other than pursue bodily drives, but we believers know that life is more than food and the body more than clothes. The desires of our flesh are proper and right in their place, but were never intended by God to rule over us. Yet in our fallen state, the bodily appetites do seek to rule our lives. This is where the struggle begins.

The Master's Battle Plan

At this point the question arises, So, then, what are we to do with the flesh? God has made a provision for the flesh. He calls it "the cross."

Don't try to redeem the flesh or dress it up in spiritual trappings or reform it. It is not redeemable. It must be crucified. Paul stated, "Knowing this, that our old man [the old nature dominated by the flesh] is crucified with him, that the body of sin [our fallen nature that wants to rule] might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Romans 6:6).

The biblical prescription for resolving the conflict between flesh and Spirit is not personal discipline or self-control. It is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our job is to recognize this as truth. If the desires of the flesh were not still a factor in our lives, we would have no need to reckon that the old nature died with Christ. Whenever we encounter an area of the flesh that still controls us, we need to honestly acknowledge that the battle of the flesh and the Spirit remains in us. We need then to bring the specific area of weakness to the cross and reckon it crucified.

Yet that's only the first step! The biblical prescription for resolving the conflict between flesh and Spirit is not personal discipline or self-control. Power over the flesh comes only through a Spirit-controlled life. Although the conflict will be with us for as long as we live in these bodies, God provides us with the resources for spiritual victory. When we allow the Spirit of God to take over and work strongly in our lives, we can triumph over our fallen nature.

Any endeavor at sanctification attempted on our own is by definition a fleshly effort. When Paul was brought to the point of desperation and cried out, "O wretched man that I am!" He did not ask, "How can I find a strategy to do better next time? How can I try harder so I get more satisfactory results?" Paul had already gone down that road to futility. He realized that the power to live a godly life did not reside in him. He saw he needed a Deliverer and thus he cried, "Who shall deliver me?"

When Jesus awakens our spirit, He also gives us a new set of desires. We begin to long for intimate fellowship with God, a deeper knowledge and comprehension of His Word, and closer communion with others who are alive in Christ Jesus. We no longer desire to live after the flesh because we have come to realize that the end of such things is frustration and death. Living for the flesh always compelled us to reach out for something more, something just beyond our grasp, something that would finally bring a sense of lasting satisfaction. Yet the promised fulfillment always eluded us.

As we live after the Spirit, however, we discover a peace the world can't understand. The endless struggle - the aching emptiness - is gone and we discover a wonderful sense of purpose and meaning. The flesh no longer has the allure it once did and the battle inside us is won.

Spiritual Mind Games

Whether we like it or not, whether we admit it or not, there is a kind of perverse law at work within us that whenever we would do good, evil is present within. Paul accurately describes the often bewildering conflict that is so much a part of our lives: "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me" (Romans 7:15-17).

Consider how we deal with one of the simplest, most direct commands in Scripture. Jesus said in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another." John later tells us that if we say we love God and yet hate our brother, we are liars (1 John 4:20). If we can't love our neighbor whom we have seen, John wonders, how can we love God whom we have not seen?

Enter our problem: Since the Bible so clearly forbids out-and-out hatred of a person, sometimes we try to soften the issue by saying, "Well, I don't hate him, I just hate the nasty things he does." But if we are honest, we must admit it is awfully hard to separate an individual from his actions. I, for one, have a difficult time making such a fine distinction. I find myself not only hating what a wicked man does, but him as well. If I hear that something unpleasant happened to him - like smashing up his new car in a traffic accident - I find myself inwardly rejoicing. I know the Bible says my attitude should be different, but it honestly isn't.

Oftentimes we end up playing mind games to convince ourselves that we are really obeying God and loving those who are unlovely. If we try hard enough, we can convince ourselves that we really do love and forgive. Yet the truth of our inward state becomes clear when that difficult person comes around, slaps us on the back, and with a loud voice announces to the entire room, "Gee, brother, I guess you didn't have time to use your deodorant this morning!" Our first reaction is to think, You idiot! Now everyone is turning around and staring at me. Why don't you just drop dead, creep! We really want to love this person, but our flesh won't allow us to!

Like Paul, we find an ironic law at work within us. Whenever we want to do good, evil is present. We end up getting frustrated with ourselves, sick of our failures, and overwhelmed with discouragement. We feel a profound sense of spiritual defeat and along with Paul cry out, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

No Cause to Boast

Only when we admit that we are incapable of delivering ourselves from the law of sin and death can the doors be opened for the glorious power of God to work within us and do for us what we are incapable of doing for ourselves. As the power of God transforms us from the inside out, all we can do is give thanks and glory to God. We are unable to say to others, "I used to be involved with sin. But one day, I determined that Jesus didn't like it, so I mustered up my willpower and discipline and decided I just wouldn't do those things anymore." There is no room for boasting about what fine, self-controlled people we are. As the Scriptures declare, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14).

Have you ever run into people who seemed more spiritual than they actually were? A dead giveaway of this kind of insincerity comes when someone speaks of a spiritual struggle. If a person admits having a battle with the flesh, these "spiritual" people immediately put a self-righteous, holier-than-thou expression on their faces. Without saying a word, they communicate that fighting with the flesh is some terrible abnormality for a believer. "Why, if you just prayed more, and spent more time in the Word, and were spiritually minded (like us), you wouldn't have any problem with your flesh."

While such attitudes of superspiritual perfectionism are very common, they don’t line up with the clear teaching of Scripture. I don't believe we will ever experience a time, while we live here on earth, when we won't have a problem with these fleshly bodies. I know through long experience that my own flesh can be just as troublesome as it ever was.

When God reveals to me an area of the flesh He wants to change, for example, I always start out with the best of intentions. I see the ugliness of my sin and vow that I will never fall in that manner again. And so I come up with various disciplines and strategies to deal with the problem. I seek out all kinds of advice on how to practically deal with the situation. But sooner or later I watch all my best-laid plans fall apart. I get so frustrated that I cry out, "God, help me!" And then amazingly enough, He does. His Spirit miraculously begins to transform my life.

As I overflow with gratitude, I see how God's way of transformation is so wonderfully simple and yet much better than my own misguided efforts. I find myself shaking my head and saying, "When will I ever understand this simple concept of grace?" How could I ever imagine that, somewhere down the line, I could do something worthwhile and prove to God that I'm not a total wretch? Yet I do imagine it.

God never intended that the flesh rule over us, and He has provided the resources and the power for us to experience victory. But as long as we are committed to trying to work out our own struggles, even our best efforts get in the way. Any attempt at godliness that arises from our own strength is a work of the flesh and is just as detestable in God's sight as the thing we are trying not to do. When our victory comes from God's intervention alone, outside of our own resources, the end result is glory and praise unto God.

A Trap to Avoid

In those moments when we feel close to the Lord, it is tempting to say, "This is so beautiful, I am never going to live after the flesh again, for that is so pointless and empty!" Unfortunately, however, tomorrow comes and we forget all about our good intentions. As we drag ourselves to bed at the end of a long and frustrating day, it suddenly dawns on us that despite our best efforts, we wandered away, did our own thing, and were controlled by the flesh. Much to our surprise, our flesh grabbed the reins once more and we found ourselves doing what we promised we would never do again.

It is at that moment that we often make our biggest mistake. We begin blaming and condemning ourselves and vow that we are going to try harder next time. Do you see the problem? As soon as we make such promises, we have decided to invest confidence in our flesh. We are saying that our own efforts will make us spiritually strong and we have stepped back into the realm of the flesh. Like Peter, we are saying, "I will never deny you!"

Many of us grow intensely frustrated when it seems we are continually fighting the same battles over and over. Yet this shouldn't surprise us. All of us go through a predictable set of steps in which we first must come to the end of our rope and realize that in our own strength we can't live in a way that pleases God. We cry out to God in desperation, and He works His gracious deliverance. I would like to think that there is some way in which I might not have to hit bottom so regularly; but unfortunately, I have yet to discover it.

From the Inside Out

In His grace, God has made it possible for us to enjoy consistent victory. Still, this side of heaven, the battle never ends. Each day presents the choice we each must make. Will we live for the desires of the flesh, or will we yield our lives to the transforming power of the Spirit of God?

How glorious it is to come to the end of our resources and to see God change our lives by His grace! Our only boast as believers is in the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. If it were not for the cross, we would all be hopelessly lost forever. But because of God's great love for us, we who were formerly lost have been saved and baptized into Christ.

We can now have such a wonderful relationship with God that it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us. The life we now live, we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us. Because of God's grace, each of us are now a new creation in Christ Jesus. Old things are passed away; everything has become new.

When we become children of God, the spiritual side of us comes alive. We suddenly realize that there is more to life than obeying the instincts of the flesh. We come to understand that the inner hunger which our flesh could never satisfy can be fulfilled in a loving relationship with God. The more we come to know God, the more we experience His peace and joy and discover that the level of satisfaction we encounter in the Spirit is limitlessly beyond the narrow spectrum of the flesh.

How beautiful it is when we let go of our own futile efforts and allow the Spirit to work! For His Victory comes from the inside out, not the outside in. And that's the kind of victory that lasts.