Do I Have a Civil War Inside of Me?

Do you ever feel like there are two equal powers inside you with completely opposite desires?  This is a very common feeling, which seems to explain how we struggle to live a life which pleases God.

For example, when a sexually lustful thought enters your mind, it’s not that you know you shouldn’t do that, it’s also in your new heart that you don’t desire to do it. (Ezekiel 36:27)  Yet, there seems to be a sinister opposite desire to do it, though you know you will regret it.

Another example would be when a thought of not measuring up enters your mind.  Though you know God loves you and you want to stand on that reality, there is this other thought which urges you to agree that you don’t measure up and to either give up, or try harder.

What or who is this other player inside of us?  Is it the old nature, a.k.a. your old identity in Adam, or is it something else?

Romans 6:6 tells us, Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

The Greek language here, is much clearer than what we read in English.  The verb, was crucified, means that our old self (nature) was crucified once and will never rise from the grave to haunt us ever again.  It was left in that tomb where Jesus was buried.

Here’s our problem.  When we read Scripture, we see that something called the flesh is what we battle with.  And, if you are like me, I was never taught that the flesh and the old nature were different, but they are.  The old nature is gone but the flesh is not.  To muddy the waters ever more, the New International Version Bible translated the flesh as sinful nature, which sounds a lot like old nature, doesn’t it.  (They did correct most of that in their most recent edition.)

The old nature (old self or old man that remained in the grave) was the deepest core of who and what we were in Adam.  This is what made us sinfully rotten to the core. (Jeremiah 17:9)  It died and was replaced with the new nature a.k.a. our identity in Christ. (Ephesians 2:6,   2 Cor. 5:17)

The flesh is strategies we have developed from living, as if we are separated from God, though we are united with Him.  We had some of these before we were saved but we may have developed new strategies since then.

I remember a good pastor friend of my saying, “So what?  This is just semantics.  It doesn’t really matter.”  Actually it matters a lot.  Here is why.

Because we only have one nature, our identity in Christ, our new normal is a heart that desires to live a loving, holy and righteous life.  It’s not to sin, contrary to popular opinion. This means it’s normal for you to live a pure life, rather than a sexually lustful life.  It’s normal for you to live with a Biblical self-esteem, rather than a fleshly one of trying to measure up. None of us will ever do this perfectly, but it is still the deepest desire of our new heart, that is our true identity – our identity in Christ.

Believe it! It's the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!