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HELEN SANDERS
10-12-2022
CRUCIFYING THE FLESH
Man is made up of three parts. Just like God is a trinity so is man. We are, according to 1 Thessalonians 5:23, made of three parts, “…spirit, soul, and body…”
Our unregenerated spirit is born again at salvation. The soul, which is made up of our mind, will, and emotions, and the flesh (body), which is made up of our senses, must be daily controlled by the Spirit of God to walk right with God.
Satan works in the soul realm through our thoughts. We must renew our minds as to what is sin and what isn’t sin by studying the Word of God. Then, we make the decision to do what the Word says instead of what our emotions and senses want to do. This very act means we put to death those desires that are contrary to God’s desires.
It is called crucifying the flesh. It means spiritually nailing our sins to our individual crosses. It means not speaking vain empty words but speaking what God says. It means not partaking of the things of sin that we enjoyed before salvation. It means to say no to alcohol, to drugs, pornography, illicit sex, gossip, anger, envy, and all the other fleshly desires that snare us. (See Galatians 5:16-26.) We say “NO!” and nail each of them to our own cross.
Is this easy? No, it isn’t. It was not easy for Jesus to carry his cross and go to calvary and be crucified, but he did it. With Holy Spirit guiding us, we can walk the righteous life, but it takes discipline.
If you were/are an athlete, then you know you had to train your body through exercise to get your muscles strong. You had to push yourself beyond the breaking point until your muscles screamed at the pressure. This was the only way to get strong enough to stay “in the game.” You kept at it until your body was in shape. If you didn’t exercise those muscles, you could be sure that you would be exhausted and not be able to finish the game as a winner.
We must do the same thing spiritually. We exercise our faith muscles and learn how to stand against sin when we are tempted. We say no to the things of the flesh and yes to the things of the Spirit. It means death to the old ways of sin, and life to the Spirit-filled way of life.
No one ever said it is easy, but if it weren’t possible then God wouldn’t have written it in his word. Remember this, after crucifixion there is resurrection. Death to the flesh, but resurrection to the spirit. That should be the goal for each of us, my friends. We must press through daily until we cross the finish line and meet Jesus face to face!
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