Follow The Spirit Not The Flesh

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We Christians know that God wants us to follow His Holy Spirit, not our flesh. But what exactly is the flesh and how do we discern what is flesh and what is Spirit?

Don’t Follow Your Sinful Nature

Those who follow the nature they were born with, are following their flesh, or sinful nature. The sinful nature and God’s nature are opposed to each other. Those who are born again with God’s nature, gain the ability to follow the Spirit.

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

The NLT version uses “sinful nature” instead of “flesh”:

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

Galatians 5:16-18 NLT

Follow the Holy Spirit

The passage continues, emphasizing that true believers can consider themselves dead to their sinful nature. Being dead to sin doesn’t mean that we will never sin again. Rather, it means that we no longer live in condemnation.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Galatians 5:24-26 ESV

For comparison again, here is the NLT:

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

Galatians 5:24-26 NLT

For those of us who have been born again as a new creation, we have spiritual life in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). We can reckon our sinful nature as dead, crucified (Romans 6:11). Because we have Christ, we have eternal life. There is no life without Christ because Jesus is eternal life. It isn’t possible to have eternal life apart from Jesus. Eternal life is not some resource that is separable from Jesus. The person and the life are one and the same.

Having a relationship with Jesus Christ by definition includes having eternal life. In this sense, the relationship comes first. It’s not as if someone finds eternal life that then leads them to Christ. Jesus in the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). People find and know Jesus and therefore they have eternal life.

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

1 John 5:12, 20 NLT

Follow Spiritual Desires Not Fleshly Desires

If you are a believer, take a moment to sense your spiritual desires as separate from your fleshly desires. Depending on how you are doing spiritually and perhaps how long you’ve known God, this could be easy or difficult. If you sense confusion within you, this doesn’t mean you don’t have Christ, but it might indicate that you need more training (practice) in sensing the difference.

The Spirit desires what God desires. The Bible tells us to focus on the heavenly reality, not the world. We are to focus on what is pure and true, not what is destructive and false. The desires we have to harm others or ourselves by violating God’s holy law come from our sinful natures. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:19-23).

The more we can identify what is evil and what is good within us, the easier it will be to walk in the Spirit. Most people can understand the difference intellectually, but we who have Christ can sense the difference in our hearts.

Learn more about desire.
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