Fri Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

The first thing you’ve got to understand is this battle that goes on in your self and the desires that you have at times that you know are contrary to what God desires goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. That is why every one of us hasthis battle. Do you understand that the world is in the mess it is in right now, because a couple named Adam and Eve did not exercise self-control? If Adam and Eve had just left the fruit of one tree alone we would have all lived happily ever after. God created a perfect environment, put Adam and Eve in it and basically said, “You can everything in this garden except one thing.” The one thing that God said they couldn’t have is the first thing they took.

From that moment on, everybody is born with the same problem that causes self-control to be such a battle. Paul tells us in one word what that problem is. It is a five lettered word – “flesh”. Now in the NIV it is called “sinful nature”, but literally translated is “flesh.”

“For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” (Galatians 5:17-18)

What Paul means by the sinful nature is simply the desire that we were all born with, that we all came out of our mothers’ womb with, to have our way, to get what we want, to satisfy our needs, and to put ourselves first. In other words it is what some scientists or sociologists would call “the animal instinct.” It is the desire to call our own shots, to do our own thing and to look out for number one.

Even after you become a follower of Jesus Christ this nature is still in you. You still have that desire to do that one thing that God says “Don’t do” or to take that one thing that God says, “Don’t take” or to go to that one destination where God says, “Don’t go.”