“Where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are
you not carnal…?” —1 Corinthians 3:3
“The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about
carnality. The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit
warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality
and the awareness of it. But Paul said, ‘Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh’ (Galatians 5:16). […] Are you quarrelsome and
easily upset over small things? […] Paul […] connected these attitudes with
carnality. […] If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He
doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of
truth, and then He will make it right. […] When the light shines and the Spirit
brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and
God will deal with it. If, however, you try to vindicate yourself, you prove
yourself to be a child of the darkness.[…] God will see to it that you have a
number of opportunities to prove to yourself the miracle of His grace. The
proof is in a very practical test. You will find yourself saying, ‘If this had
happened before, I would have had the spirit of resentment!’” CHAMBERS
In Galatians chapter 5, Paul contrasts the flesh with the
spirit.
Galatians 5:19-23
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery
(indulgence in sensual pleasures); idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord,
jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy;
drunkenness, orgies, and the like. […] But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control.”
I tell people that I can tell what “drives” a person by what
they do. Do I see the fruit of the flesh
or the fruit of the Spirit. Suppose
there is a tree in a field. You call out
to the tree, “Hey! What kind of tree are
you?” And the tree replies “I am a mango
tree.” Well you happen to love mangoes,
so you walk to the tree. When you get
there, you notice immediately that there are apples on the branches. So you say to the tree … “I am sorry. You may want to be a mango tree, but the
fruit on your branches tells me otherwise … my friend you are an apple tree. I can see that from the fruit you bear on your
branches.”
People may want to believe that they are loving, obedient
Christians … but one look at their branches and you know they, although they
may be Christians, they are not walking by the Spirit .. but by the flesh. The thing is, for many, if you tell them
that, they will drop some of their anger fruit on your head. They don’t want to believe that what they are
showing is wrong. They have defined what
it means to be a Christian. They make
excuses for their sin. They are content
with their “Form of godliness, but are denying .. and quenching … the power
thereof.” (2 Timothy 3:5) So what is hanging on your branches? As Christians, we have been grafted into the
Vine. We should not convince ourselves
that the evidence of the flesh in our lives is “OK”. Jesus said that branches that bear no (Spiritual)
fruit will be cut off and tossed on the burn pile. ELGIN
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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