Wow, you’re back!!! I thought you may not come back after the last blog.
Since you were brave enough to read the last one, I thought I would continue the theme of difficult blogs. This has to do with a reflection I have been doing on our country. I believe it is quite evident that our nation has no desire to entertain God’s reality, let alone accept it. As a nation, we don’t obey even one of the Ten Commandments any more. This brings me great concern and the sobering question of how much longer will our nation last without God.
When we look at the threats that are seeking to destroy our souls, we have three – the devil, the world and the flesh. For this space, let’s take a look at the flesh. Part of the consequence of original sin is that our nature is fallen from grace, directed away from God toward sin. The Church has a one hundred dollar name for this – concupiscence.
St. Paul, in various places within his epistles, used the term “in the flesh”. This is a person who only can operate within their intellect, emotions and physical sensations and passions. Their spirit, which was created to be in constant communion with the Holy Spirit, lost that connection. What they lost was the power of self-mastery and the light of truth that comes from God.
Without that truth, they are set adrift, marking them susceptible to deception that leads to rebellion. Satan was able to convince one-third of the angels who had a complete ability to understand truth. How much easier do you think it would be to deceive humanity, which is broken because of original sin?
Many in the world are moving away from God and His truth. Sin, the rejection of this relationship of love with God, is a pursuit of happiness that one believes can be found apart from Him. The level of rebellion is very high. I think it is safe to say that most people really don’t like someone else telling them what they need to do. It runs deep in most of us.
At the base of this rebellion is the sin of pride that rises up and demands self-sufficiency. Truly the sin of Satan is evident in those who would seek to see themselves as equal to or greater than God. To think that God is irrelevant is a common thought, but to those who experience His love in their hearts see this as unfathomable. After encountering Jesus, they can no longer conceive of fulfillment without Him.
My intention for this blog is to bring attention to the powerful influence of the world and our susceptibility to that influence. Our compromised flesh is easy pickings for Satan, until we come to know Jesus and He restores our communion with the Holy Spirit.
When we draw close to the Spirit and learn how to live in communion with Him, we regain the fruits of the Spirit. With those fruits, gifts and love, we regain the truth of who we are and the fullness of what we were created for – love. Only in the truth can a person really heal.
Let us encourage all those marching away from God that there is Someone greater than they are and that He loves them. After all, that is our mandate.
Deacon Ralph! Love your blogs……when I have time to read them! 🙂
Quick question, or rather concern, regarding this latest post…….you state, “When we look at the threats that are seeking to destroy our souls, we have three – the devil, the world and the flesh.”
My concern is that this description of our flesh along with your statement about our fallen nature could potentially lead readers to interpret your comments to mean our flesh is bad. As you probably know there are many of our brothers and sisters in Christ who already have a somewhat manichean perspective toward our physical being. Just thought it might warrant a bit of elaboration.
Thank you, my brother Deacon, for your comment. Alas the battles of brevity. There use to be a time when everyone could agree in God’s creation story and how He created us good. As you know, the enemy has entered and loves to twist everything. The “flesh” that I was describing was those parts of our human creation that have not come under the control of the Holy Spirit. For example, the College student who knows that porn is wrong but still participates in the activity. In this situation, I am not speaking of addiction but freedom to choose not to obey God’s law and freely give themselves to it. When we make satisfying the passions or appetites of our flesh as priority over everything else, we are in danger.
Thanks, dr
Deacon Ralph, thank you for blessing me with your blog! Come Lord Jesus and heal the hearts of this in this country.
We will ALWAYS come back to you Deacon….you teach the words of Eternal life! Thank you for your bravery and obedience!