Galatians 5:17
17 For [gar] the flesh [sarx] lusteth [epithumeo] against
[kata] the Spirit [pneuma], and [de] the Spirit [pneuma] against [kata] the flesh [sarx]: and [de] these [tauta] are contrary [antikeimai]
the one to the other [allelon]: so that [hina] ye cannot [hina me] do [poieo] the things [tauta] that [hos] [an] ye would [thelo]. KJV-Interlinear
17 For the flesh sets its desire
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in
opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. NASB
These are the only two environments in which you
can live your life. There is no third alternative. Most folks do not know the difference. The activity of the flesh and the activity of
the spirit are in opposition to each other.
The flesh, representing the carnal aspect of your life. The spirit, representing the aspects of your
life that are performed while in fellowship, herein referred to as, in the
spirit.
The two events that separate them are sin and confession.
For it is from that activity in our daily life, that we usually oscillate back and
forth between the two.
Unfortunately most folks do not confess and thus
live their entire or greater portion of their life, out of fellowship and under
the influence of the sin nature. Sooner
or later life inundates a person and almost by accident they confess in the
form of a poor-me prayer to God, but that is usually a type of knee jerk
reaction to a situation and not a pattern of life that they should be following.
Occasional confession gets you into fellowship and
thus under the power of the holy Spirit, but typically that lasts only as long
as the time to the next sin, which could be but minutes or even hours
away. And then you are out of fellowship
again.
And make a note, that confession, while a very
important component of the spiritual life, is not the spiritual life. It is merely a door through which you must
go, in order to live inside of the spiritual life, which we call, being in
fellowship.
Once inside the fellowship sphere, or as Paul
describes it here, once under the spirit, then you must pursue your spiritual
life as it is supposed to be pursued, namely pursue a daily study, learn, and
grow up in your spiritual life. This can
only be accomplished while living in fellowship.
No spiritual growth occurs while you are out of fellowship
and in the carnal fleshy state.
And this is where this verse is so important. Each side of life is in conflict with the
other. You cannot live both
simultaneously. The spiritual side
benefits and completes you, while the carnal side destroys you and prevents your
completion.
At some point in your life you must decide whether
you want something better, or just want to waste your life away with nothing to
show for your life when it is all said and done.
It is easy to do nothing, but then you get nothing when
you do nothing. And it is also easy to
float back and forth from sin to the spiritual, but that only ends up
compromising your spiritual life and you lose.
The most common failure that people experience is
their failure due to their trying to define their own form of spirituality rather
than following Gods. Again it is easier
to do nothing, not study, not learn, not grow up, than it is to follow a
regimented daily habit of study.
A five minute daily study habit is pretty
burdensome, ya know!!!
And people fool themselves into thinking that they
can get along just fine without a daily study, or they believe that whatever
they are doing now is good enough.
Remember too, that disregard for Gods mandates is
also a form of sin, which is the arrogance of thinking that you do not need to
comply with Gods mandates, or that you can comply in your own way.
Another failure form, is rebelling against the role
that God has defined for you in trying to be something that you are obviously not.
Sins are not limited to just criminal acts or
social misbehavior, they also include disobedience or irresponsibility toward
Gods expectations. That disobedience is
generally tied up in the arrogance of believing that you are somehow exempt.
