Better at Fighting My Flesh

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
Romans 13:14 (NIV)

Our thoughts, our actions, our emotions, our drives, our passions, our pursuits—they are all subject to the desires of our flesh. Our flesh, our human nature, is that part of us that lives apart from the influence of Christ. Paul says you can live better than your flesh. Every one of us can live better than our base nature.

While you are maturing in Christ throughout your life, you will have to ask God to help you live as you should, and you will live your entire life fighting the pull of your nature to do the opposite.

How do we fight these habits? How do we live better at fighting what tries to influence us outside of the influence of the Holy Spirit? Paul says: Here’s how you live better fighting your flesh: Stop making provisions for your base nature.

In the original Greek, this means stop processing the pull of your flesh. You can’t do anything about its invasion, but you do have a choice about how you process it. Paul says to stop giving your flesh a contribution in the consideration of your life’s plans. Be quick to dismiss the flesh.

You can’t stop a thought from circling around your processing center, but you don’t have to give an audience when selfish people start making suggestions to you. You can choose to feed your spiritual discernment and to seek wisdom from the Word of God, watching how Christ has exemplified this Himself.

Scripture doesn’t say “negotiate.”

Scripture doesn’t say “bargain.”

Scripture doesn’t say “compromise.”

Scripture says, resist the devil and he will flee.

This is all Paul is suggesting. If you know your flesh is going to take you in a direction that’s not under the influence of the Spirit, make no provision for the flesh. Cut its access. And its access is your attention, your time, your affection, your responses.

Make no provision for the flesh. Here’s how: clothe yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That means making the choice to start the day intentionally aligning our thoughts with Christ, doing a head and heart check through the revelation His Word gives to us, submitting our entire day to Him in prayer, letting the Lord exercise dominion over the subtle ways our flesh is begging for responses from us. This is what Scripture means when it says to submit your ways unto Him.