We started our teaching on desires
on 29th December, but had New Year in between. Therefore you may quickly
want to recap on the blog post of 29th December 2012 to get reminded
of the topic we are discussing.
If we look at Galatians 5:19-21, we
see the acts of the sinful nature listed, which start off with desires as
mentioned in our previous message. We are going discuss these individually so
we could know our enemy that we are dealing with: “The acts of
the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and
the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not
inherit the kingdom of God.”
A key in this passage are the words ‘those
who live like this’. Being tempted with these desires and occasionally falling
for the temptation whilst we actually resisted it up to a point, does not mean
we live like that. There is a fine line in this and if we walk by the Spirit,
discussing our weaknesses with Him, getting to understand how He thinks about
our weaknesses and work together with Him to overcome them, we will be in line
with the Lord’s will. We all have certain sins we struggle with and how we deal
with it determines whether we ‘live like this’ or whether we live holy lives.
Take for instance jealousy. Some of us may be materially orientated and therefore
experiences regular envy, but do not resist it. We actually enjoy being
jealous. If we allow this to control us, we live like it and therefore,
according to this passage, will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
If we, however, resist it and fight the
desire and temptation whenever they come, confessing our sin as we do it, we
have an attitude holy and pleasing to the Lord. Paul had this problem: “To keep
me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations,
there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me,” (2 Corinthians
12:7-9).
Note that Paul pleaded that the Lord
would take these temptations away, these torments of the flesh that put
pressure on him to sin and displease the Lord. He did not want them, but the
Lord allowed them so Paul would realise his dependence on the Lord and stay humble.
One of the major weaknesses that man has, which the worldly people confuse with
strength, is pride. The moment we think more highly of ourselves than we ought
(Romans 12:3), we need grace. Therefore at least
one of these acts of the sinful nature mentioned above will be a weakness to us,
so we can stay dependent on the Lord for His grace.
We have mentioned jealousy as an
example. The root of jealousy is in self-centredness. If we are mainly concerned
about our skills, our benefits, our possessions and wealth, our
image and what people think of us, jealousy
is likely to become a problem to us. When we become born again, the sinful
nature does not automatically go away – it actually becomes our enemy and we
need to “to work out our own salvation [from
our weaknesses] with fear and trembling,” (Philippians 2:12). If we
sense that we are jealous about someone, a red light should flash and we should
establish why we are jealous. Is it something they have that we do not have, or
something they do better than us? Then we consciously have to look into our
lives for a root of pride that causes us to be competitive, materialistic and
self-centred, and we have to make peace with the fact that in Christ we do not matter anymore, but Christ
alone through us. Then we have to decidedly shut out that jealousy and do so
every time it surfaces, confessing our sin to the Lord and calling on His grace
to help us overcome. Note that this is a conscious and intellectual exercise.
Lord, please help me overcome
jealousy and give me grace when it attacks.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out
from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty,
but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent
it.
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