“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
In this verse Paul didn’t write I was crucified with Christ, but I am crucified with Christ. Yes, our old sinful man was crucified with Christ, but the flesh is ever with us and rises up against the spirit. “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 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.” (Galatians 5:16-17) There is a need to daily remind ourselves that we are dead to sin and dead to any selfish desire, dream and vision that we may have, and to seek what the Holy Spirit wants. This doesn’t mean that every desire, dream and vision is not of the Holy Spirit, but we must look at them through the Holy Spirit. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” (Romans 6:11-13) This Scripture speaks to us about sin. Many things the flesh seeks are not sinful in themselves. But it is sin in that it gives us another option opposed to the Spirit. The questions we must ask ourselves are: What is the motivation? What is the end result? And who gets the glory?
Peter wrote: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;” (1Peter 2:11) Our soul is our mind, our will and our emotions. Fleshly lusts put that desire for worldly things in our mind, influences our will and our emotions. An example would be our flesh desire to be an actor and have fame and fortune or to live by the sea in one of those houses on a cliff by the Pacific or whatever that far-fetched desire is. But in your reality, the spirit is opening doors to teach a church group, to minister to the sick or to speak to school groups, right where you are in your neighborhood. You have the means and opportunity to do either, follow the flesh or follow the Spirit. In my examples, it’s easy to see what the Spirit wants. But many things the flesh brings to the table are not as easy to discern. Everything must be examined in prayer. We don’t want to be like the rich young ruler and hold on to things that perish and are worthless in eternity. We want to please the One Who loved us, died for us and gave us eternity. We want to choose those things that are eternal and will have worth in eternity.
The whole world has a feeling that the end is near or already upon us. Even the unbeliever feels it. But again, every generation thought that the end was near. We don’t know the day or the time. What are we choosing in the time allotted to us? Are we choosing the eternal. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) This doesn’t mean just on Sunday mornings. We have choices every minute of every day.
Scripture tells us of two sisters, Mary and Martha. (Luke 10:38-42) Jesus came to their house. Martha is over working herself being a good hostess. Mary leaves Martha to do everything to sit at the feet of Jesus and to hear Him. When Martha complains, the answer that Jesus gives surprises me. “And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42) Jesus said, “one thing is needful.” That means that all that Martha was doing was not required nor necessary. But what Mary chose was required and necessary. Mary chose the eternal. Housework will always be there. This is not an excuse to let your house go and allow it to become a pigsty. But we are to take the opportunity to choose the spiritual and the eternal first. Jesus didn’t care if Martha put out a feast before Him. He wasn’t there for the food, but to teach. Many of us are like Martha. What is that spiritual and eternal thing we need to choose? Another thing Jesus said is that Mary has “chosen that good part,” meaning what was beneficial. Choosing the Word and time with our Lord is beneficial. It’s eternal. And it will not be taken away from us. We live in this flesh, but we can choose to live in the Spirit by faith in Jesus.
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