FLESH AND SPIRIT

Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

When Isaac entreated Hashem for his wife Rebecca to conceive, Hashem answered. Rebecca conceived, and in her belly were male un-identical twins that already strove together for domination. This was not only the start of a family, but the continuation of the of the present-day M.E. crisis started with Isaac and Ishmael. You see, God started it so only He can and will solve it.

Jacob and Esau were as opposite as brothers could be. Esau was hairy, Jacob was smooth; Esau was hunter, Jacob was a home-buddy; Esau loved to chase girls, especially Canaanite girls, Jacob was a student learning to live by the Torah; Esau was carnal, Jacob was spiritual

We all possess within ourselves the fruits of Rebecca’s travail. We are all born with two natures constantly at odds with each other: the carnal and spiritual. For those who take on the combat against the evil inclination plaguing us from birth, against the weight and the sin which clings so closely to us (Hebrews 12:1), the fight is to the finish and compromise is never an option.

The apostolic Scriptures speak of this evil nature as the ‘old self’ (Ephesians 4:22), the ‘flesh’ and the ‘carnal mind’ (Romans 8:13, 7) which we are supposed to ‘mortify’ as the apostle says. We are to kill it, leave it behind with no forwarding address, bury it without a trace. Sad to say, many seem to only injure it for awhile, keep it dormant in a corner of their souls with a forwarding address or even a marker at the burial place so they can find it later. Is that why so many have problems with temptation? When it is so easy for people to revert back to their old habits and addictions, it shows they have not really mortified the old self; or maybe they are not even born again; if they were, they would be an actual new person.

He who is very serious about this fight also gets tempted at times, but like Joseph of old, he flees the temptation ‘leaving his coat behind’ (Genesis 39:12-13). The problem with many is that they still like to hang around the elements that cause temptation. A good sample of ‘fleeing’ temptation is a sports fan friend of mine who told me that he likes to keep tabs of scores on a very good web site especially conceived for that. It is very important to him but in spite of it he decided to quit going to that site because every once in awhile the site would flash women in immodest clothing and postures.

Just as light and darkness, oil and water, earth and iron cannot mix together, so Messiah’s nature within us cannot mix with that of the evil one. The battleground of this war is set within the realm our choices. By our own personal choices and decisions, we give power to Jacob or to Esau in our lives; to Yeshua, or to the evil one, the destroyer of our soul.

May Hashem lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: (Matthew 6:13).