The spirit, the flesh, and emotional upheaval

2 Corinthians 10:3

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete (ESV).

I remember early on in my life of going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings I heard a guy say, “Feelings aren`t facts.” I thought nothing of the statement at the time; I was too busy banging my proverbial head against the wall with the same old mistakes.

When I was in AA we never really addressed the issues of the flesh, at least not head-on. In my humble opinion, the whole “alcoholism is a disease” thing has made addiction an excuse rather than a spiritual and physical malady as the AA founders once described the problem.

When I became a Christian, the world became coherent. Everything made more sense to me. Life`s answers were suddenly more apparent and real. I adore my AA friends and I still attend some meetings on occasion to see my friends and remember my roots: however, I needed the dark red meat of Christ in my life—the spiritual soup one finds in the rooms of AA was becoming a “mother`s milk” in my spiritual walk.

In my Christian walk I have come to understand the real battle in life—the flesh. We can call it alcoholism, addiction, over-eating, gambling, sexual addiction, etc., but the truth is that it all boils down to a battle between the flesh and the spirit, just as the Bible describes.

I do believe that addicts have a particular propensity to fulfill the desires of the flesh and a peculiar repugnance of the spiritual answers that exist. That is why I believe God set forth the circumstances that led to the founding of 12 step groups (starting with AA).  That being said, the 12 steps deal with the flesh, but not the issue of Christ as the messiah—the truth, the way, and the life.

The Bible tells us, as we all well know, that if we walk in the spirit we will not fall prey to the flesh. This is the real battle line in life. I have found another link to this hot button, or to this issue of the flesh and its ability to prey on us as humans. This link, this weakness, this doorway to the flesh is found in how we deal with emotions (remember, ‘feelings are not facts’).

If I look at my weakest moments—the moments I find myself falling prey to the flesh most often—it is found in those moments that I allow my emotions to become over charged, i.e.—anger, fear, jealousy, etc. It is in these moments that I will generally default to my old behaviors if I`m not on guard.

As my Christian walk continues to grow and mature, I have found that I must learn to deal with my emotions in a proper and sane fashion as an important key to my ability to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. The purpose of this blog is to share my personal walk with Jesus, to promote Christian issues, scripture, motorcycle riding, and other Christian news. I have not “arrived” at perfection and I never will. My intent is to share from the heart—not from a pedestal. God bless. WP