Sunday, August 9, 2015

Desires of the Flesh


Dad loves us soooo much!  You have no idea.  It’s crazy.  Everything he says comes from a place of love, and is for our benefit.  Unlike any earthly Dad, he doesn’t need anything.  Except us.  Like a loving father needs his son, or a man needs his wife, Dad needs us.  We make him so happy and bring him so much pleasure. He’s drunk with love!  Every day he thinks about us and talks to us.  We hear his voice in our thoughts, saying the most wonderful things.  He’s incredibly happy and very excited to spend every moment together, for now and all of eternity!

Knowing Dad’s love is crucial for understanding bible verses.  Throughout the New Testament, Paul mentions something called “the flesh”.  The greek word is sarx, and in many places it means “the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin”.  Whoa…that doesn’t sound good!  Wait, I thought we weren’t sinners anymore.

That’s right!  We’re righteous.  We no longer live “apart from divine influence”.  Dad lives inside us and has already removed that sinful nature (Rom 6:6).  He’s given us a new spirt and a new heart.  Now we have direct access to him and the Holy Spirit through Jesus (who are madly in love with us).  We’re no longer sinners.  We’re righteous, just like Dad and all the angels in heaven!  Our authority and power has been restored.  We get to hear Dad’s approval and affection for us; constantly, without interruption.  If the enemy accuses us, Jesus and the Holy Spirit jump to our defense.  Pretty awesome, huh?

You know what else is awesome?  The fact that we can do anything we want, and still be righteous (1 Cor 10:23).  Seriously, anything.  And remain righteous and powerful, with eternal life!  Dad’s very proud of us and no longer hides his smile and approval.

But what if we sin?  Is Dad disappointed? 

No.  Sin does NOT offend Dad!  

It never has.  What bothers him is watching his children die.  That’s why Jesus came.  Not to make sinners righteous, but to make dead people alive.  The reason Dad talks about sin is because it kills his children (Rom 5:12).  It’s the same reason he talks about “the flesh”; because it produces death (Gal 6:8).  Today, “our flesh” is just in our heads.  We don’t actually have a sinful nature anymore.  What we do have, however, is lots of power in our tongues.  This is important, because if we think we have a sinful nature, we’ll speak (and act) accordingly.  And the power of death will roll off our tongues and into our lives.  Then we’ll wake up one day and wonder why there’s so much death around us.  It’s because we can’t stop talking about “our sinful nature”! 


Wake up.  We’re righteous.  We don’t have a sinful nature or flesh anymore.  We’re perfect, restored, and full of life!  Even though we’re allowed to do anything we want, we choose not to partake in death.  We want to experience Dad!  To feel his presence, his approval, and his powerful love every second, of every day.  He’s the one that brings us pleasure and happiness, and we want more!  And more and more!!

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