The conflict within

By Robert Hurtgen

There is a conflict raging within you: a conflict between what you want and what God desires for you. Not surprisingly what you want and what God desires are not always the same. Paul, who once hated the church and now by God's grace is its greatest champion, writes to the Christians in the region of Galatia, " ... the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other so that you don't do what you want" (Galatians 5:17, NLT). The old monk Martin Luther called the flesh and the spirit two captains locked against each other vying for control. There is an unseen battle deep within you.

If you have ever been determined to watch what you eat, to limit your soda, sugar or caffeine intake, you have received a glimpse of the battle. The moment that you promise yourself, "Today is the day I will eat healthily. No more junk," that seems to be the day your co-worker brings a dozen of your favorite doughnuts to work. The moment you enter into the fray to either embrace or reject the pastry is the moment you see a shadow of the battle between the flesh and the spirit.

How does one engage in this battle? Can this conflict be conquered? Should one even attempt to gain mastery over what the flesh desires?

The answer to all of these is a resounding yes. The promises surrounding Galatians chapter five is not only to raise our awareness of the war within but also to alert us to God the Holy Spirit who soldiers alongside us producing within your life what are called the fruits of the spirit. We then do our part to act on the fruits of the spirit the Holy Spirit is growing. Together the life that we have always wanted grows.

C.S. Lewis in "Mere Christianity" (Touchstone Book: New York, 1996; 93) reminds us, "A famous Christian long ago told us that when he was a young man he prayed constantly for chastity; but years later he realized [sic] that while his lips had been saying, 'Oh Lord, make me chaste," his heart had been secretly adding, "But please don't do it just yet'."[1]

There is a war within. Like that young man, do you desire victory or does your heart say "not yet"?