The Battle with the Flesh

When I was eighteen I was stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia for training. Every morning along with several hundred troops I would march to the parade field for physical training, which required everyone to lay on the ground for various exercises.  After running and sweating to the point of exhaustion we often welcomed an opportunity to lay in the grass, even though it was only for a moment as we prepared to do another exercise. However, there were times when laying in the grass was not a good thing. You see it was not unusual, in those early morning hours, to see someone jump up from the grass and go through what appeared to be a psychotic fit. This crazed dance was not the action of a young soldier trying to get out of the Army on a plea of insanity, it was actually the unfortunate result of someone intruding on the domain of the dreadful fire ants.

I sometimes wonder if humanity would have a chance if all the fire ants in Georgia came to the surface at the same time.  Living in Georgia means battling this fierce army year after year and I doubt Georgia will ever be rid of them.

Our battle with the flesh works much the same way. Some of us work very diligently to rid ourselves of bad habits, language problems, addictions, etc. Sometimes these negative forms of behavior disappear altogether and for awhile we harbor the illusion that we have won the battle because we no longer drink, smoke, use bad language or whatever the bad habit was we gave up.

"Our fleshly nature, as Paul refers to our sinful nature in his letters, has a way of surfacing in some other area of our lives, much in the same way that fire ant mounds reappear in a different part of the yard. Worse yet, sometimes we don't discover the most recent uprising of the sinful nature until it is firmly established. Those outward, obvious behavior patterns are often replaced by sinful attitudes and actions which are not so easily seen. We have no trouble recognizing things like sexual immorality and drunkenness. It's much harder to cope with hatred, jealousy, selfish ambition, and envy. Like fire ants, the diseases of the disposition keep returning" [Norman Bales, Pulpit Helps, Illustration Collection I © 1999 by AMG INTERNATIONAL, INC.].

In Galatians 5:16, Paul said, "Live by the Spirit…and do not gratify the desires of the flesh." (NRSV). His warning against the desires of the flesh indicates that the sinful nature is still active even in the life of the Christian. In verse 17 he indicates that our "fleshly desires are opposed to the Spirit." The Gospel of John refers to humanity being born in sin and Paul in his letters assures us that we cannot overcome this sinful nature by eliminating a few sins from our lives. The war against the flesh is a lifetime struggle.  In this Lenten Season, as we reflect on what it means to be Christian, may the work of the spirit strengthen us as we strive to grow in relationship with Jesus Christ.

[Paul uses the word flesh throughout his letters as 'human desires' that are counterproductive to the work of the Spirit.]

© Reverend Dr. Edward E. Judy [first publish: Morrow Mirror, Morrow United Methodist Church March 23, 2014]