The Battle Within

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:16-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Inside of the Christian, a war is being fought. And it's not a one time battle. It’s a daily experience. The desires of the flesh battle against the desires of the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit battle against the desires of the flesh.

As Christians, we generally know how God has called us to live. There are some exceptions to this, of course, where we seek his will in his Word. But, generally speaking, this is true. And we also, generally, want to live for him. We want to live for the desires of the Spirit.

Yet, that being true, we are continually tempted. We are continually lured by our sinful nature to do that which is wrong. And, at times, we give in to the desires of the flesh.

This reality often causes us to question our faith. Worse yet, it causes us to question our salvation. We think that, if we were truly saved, if we had a strong enough faith, this wouldn’t be the case.

This, however, is fiction. The reality of our situation is that, although we have faith, and although the Spirit of God dwells within us, we also possess a sinful nature. And this sinful nature will remain a part of us until we meet Jesus face to face. It will remain part of us until we are made to be like Christ.

This battle, then, reveals not a lack of faith. It reveals that we do, in fact, have faith. It reveals to us that we have received the grace of God.

I say this because, apart from faith, this battle would not be fought. We would care nothing about the desires of the Spirit. Our only interest would be the desires of the flesh.

As we’re born in sin, as our natural condition is one of rebellion against God, we would live that out. We would do anything and everything that we wanted to do. And we would do so with no regrets.

Rest assured, this battle is the normal experience of a Christian. It reveals that the Lord is at work in us. And, because this is true, we are not under law. Because this is true, we do not stand condemned before God.