THERE’S A WAR ON
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” — I Peter 2:11-12
One thing every believer needs to learn is that faith in Christ introduces us to conflict. While we may know this in a general way, the Holy Spirit would introduce us specifically to the conflict between the flesh and the spirit. Parallel to this the Christian needs a keen awareness of the nature of his “calling” once he comes to Christ. Both are defined for us in scripture, and illustrate the reason why a working knowledge of the word of God is so important.
From the moment of the “new birth” we are called of God to live holy lives. Writing to the Romans, for example, the apostle declares, “Now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life [Rom. 6:22].” Simply put, a holy life is a life pleasing to God, both in outward conduct and inward motive. We are called not only to do the right thing, but to do it for the right reason. Insofar as we succeed, we are walking “after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1) The power to live God’s kind of life does not come from our own resources, but from the indwelling Holy Spirit and in scripture is called “fruit,” because it stems from our union with Christ and is produced not by us, but in us.
No sooner is the passion ignited and the process begun than the conflict arises. If the Enemy cannot keep us from becoming Christians, he will do his best to keep us from being the kind of persons God wants us to be, and the battle will be lifelong. One of the great elements in this battle is “the flesh;” the soul governed by “the desires of the flesh and of the mind.” Thus we are alerted here and warned to “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” The conflict is elaborated on in the epistle to the Galatians, where we read, “The flesh [makes war] 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 [Gal. 5:17 my paraphrase].”
Satan knows our weaknesses and makes every effort to exploit them. Perhaps at no time in the history of mankind has he had more tools at his disposal to excite our unholy desires than in this era of instant communication. “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life,” make their appeal to us in a kind of “saturation bombing” that is often unsolicited and hard to resist. Yet to yield is to suffer loss, not only to ourselves, but to the testimony of our Savior.
Our defense involves at least three things: The first is recognition of the danger. My experience in the U.S. Navy many years ago involved courses in what might be summed up in the phrase, “know your enemy.” In aircraft recognition we were trained to distinguish between friend and foe, so that under the pressures of combat we might be able to spare the one and strike the other. The Bible is the believer’s handbook for the same in our ongoing spiritual warfare. It warns us who the adversary is, what his tactics are and what steps to take to withstand them.
The second factor is resistance. Here, for example, we are warned to “abstain from fleshly lusts…” In another place we are admonished to “make no provision for the flesh, to obey it in the lusts thereof [Rom. 13:14],” where the key word is “no.” And again, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you [James 4:7].” Unfortunately, our resistance is too often half hearted and our abstinence only occasional. The enemy creeps in through the gaps in our wall. To be victorious in this battle, our resistance must be whole-hearted.
But there is more. The scripture teaches us, “Ye cannot do the things that ye would [Gal. 5:17].” Spiritual victory over fleshly lusts is not a do-it-yourself affair. An acquaintance of mine, a superb bible teacher, often employed the phrase, “It takes God to be godly.” Every true believer in Christ is a god-inhabited person. “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Paul writes to the Colossians. He by His Holy Spirit is the only one equipped to do battle with the enemy and win. Believers need to be conscious of the Spirit’s presence in our lives and exercise a conscious reliance upon Him if we are to emerge victorious from the fray.
The goal in the life of every believer is to cultivate a life of good works that will demonstrate the power of God’s grace to the “watching world.” That will identify us as the “strangers and pilgrims” referred to here, and ultimately rout the critics who delight to say that “Christianity doesn’t work.”
For victory,
"Pastor" Frasier
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