In Christ, we are a new creation, according to the Bible. Old things have passed away. All things have become new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Yet many Christians still struggle in the flesh during their daily walk with Christ.
All Christians experience some degree of struggle in the flesh. There it is; I said it. I would be lying to say otherwise. Only the truth can make us free. But the question is why the apparent dichotomy? I have been asked more than once, “How could he be a high profile church leader and do what he did?”
Really, it does not matter who you are. You can be a prominent preacher or a lay person who just became a Christian a year ago. No one is immune to struggles in the flesh to some degree.
The truth is that when a person becomes born again, two areas of his being do not automatically become new. Because of this fact, genuine Christians can still struggle in the flesh. Of course, some Christians struggle much more than others do. If they don’t address these two problem areas, mentioned below, they will remain to to struggle.
Two Reasons Christians Can Struggle in the Flesh
1. We are still clothed in a fleshly body. When we became born again, our spirit was made anew. But we remain clothed in a corruptible body. It diametrically opposes the direction the Spirit would have us to go in.
“The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Galatians 5:17, NASB).
According to this verse, our flesh simply will not cooperate. We must condition ourselves to obey the Spirit and to deny our flesh. This we can do because Christ lives on the inside of us. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us. Failure to obey the Spirit will yield unpleasant, perhaps disastrous, consequences in your life.
2. Our mind needs to be renewed. When a person first becomes a Christian, he does not know how to live like a Christian. Not knowing what to do, he tends to do what he knows. Though he has been born again, he still has his natural way of thinking. Such a mindset will yield a mediocre lifestyle at best.
In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul writes, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind….” (Romans 12:2, KJV). It is important to note that Paul is writing to the church. In other words, he is writing to Christians.
Even though they were already born again, Paul instructs them to renew their mind. The point is that you can be a genuine Christian and still be screwed up in the way you think. To renew your mind, you must abandon your way of thinking and transform it through prayer and the Word of God.
The Good News
So, you can be a genuine Christian and still experience struggles in the flesh. That will remain to be the case until Jesus returns and we are changed from corruptible to incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:53). But the good news is that no Christian has to be a slave to his flesh. God has given us “everything” we need to live a victorious life in Christ. That’s what Peter means when he writes, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness… (2 Peter 1:3, NASB).
Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.