THE CONQUEST OF THE OLD NATURE

God gives us very clear and definite instructions regarding our part in the dethronement of this usurper self and the enthronement of Christ as sole Possessor and only Ruler over His inheritance in us.

We Must Condemn the Flesh
God condemns the flesh as altogether sinful (Romans 8:3); He sees in it “no good thing” (Romans 7:18), and no Christian will ever have conquest over it until he accepts God’s estimate of it and acts accordingly. This may seem like an easy thing to do, but on the contrary, it is exceedingly difficult. God’s standard is very exacting. He says there is “no good thing” in the flesh. God says that “the flesh” both at its center and circumference is sinful; He condemns both its innermost desires and its outermost deeds (Ephesians 2:3, Colossians 3:9), and declares that it is unworthy of any confidence on our part. The first step which the apostle Paul took to the life on the highest plane was this—to condemn as unsafe, unclean, and untrustworthy, the flesh which formerly he had so highly regarded.

Philippians 3:3-4

“For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more.”

But we do have a great deal of confidence in the flesh. We divide it into the good and the bad. Certain things in the flesh we are compelled to distrust because they have gotten us into trouble. We have acknowledged certain other things as weaknesses, faults, or potential danger points. But there is another good-sized portion of the flesh that we rate rather high and in which we trust without reserve. It may be our refined and cultured tastes; the opinions and judgments which are the product of our educated minds; our generous, noble, philanthropic feelings; our high standard of morality; or, like Paul, our ancestral heritage. So that when we make a cross section of our “flesh,” taking good and bad together, it seems in our sight to measure up fairly well; at least we can see no reason for such a wholesale condemnation of it as God makes.

But let us put this best product of the flesh to the test. Let us take it from a home in which love reigned and sweet companionship was its daily portion, where books lined the library shelves, beautiful pictures adorned the walls, snow white linen covered the table, and from a community life which offered everything needful to satisfy the intellectual, social, aesthetic and spiritual desires and needs. Transplant this life to an interior village on the mission field to live within a house with several people of varying temperaments and tastes, with limited household appointments, with untaught, untrained servants, with nothing without upon which to rest the eye but mud walls and dirty narrow streets, surrounded by jarring voices and unpleasant odors, and a furlough seven years off—would this best product of the flesh stand the test and come off more than conqueror? More than one missionary has left the mission field even before furlough was due, and for no other reason than that “the flesh” broke down under the test.

Or let us put it to a different kind of test. Perhaps “the flesh” boasts of that godlike quality of character called love. So, choose the deepest, purest human love we can find and place it alongside the love of 1 Corinthians 13. Is it a love that in nothing or at no time seeketh its own, that is free from the slightest taint of jealousy? Does it suffer long, and is it always kind, or is there sometimes not a feeling of secret irritability toward the one most deeply loved? Has it unfailingly been so charitable that it has never taken account of evil? Would it not have to blush with shame at its jealousy, envy, snobbishness, intolerance, selfishness, impatience, and irritability? Has our “flesh” never broken down under this divine test?

May we make one more analytical test of “the flesh.” This time, let it be a chemical analysis in God’s laboratory. Here is a man who boasts of his generosity and is regarded as one of the most generous individuals in the city. He lavishes expensive gifts upon his family and gives costly dinners to his friends, and subscribes largely to campaigns when the newspapers print the list of donors. But he grinds the most possible labor out of his employees for the least possible pay, he quarrels with his tailor over his bill, and he robs God of even the tithe which is His by right. Here is a woman who rides triumphantly upon the social wave as one of the most gracious and charming women in the community. But she nags her husband, is impatient with her children, and scolds her servants. “The flesh” always has its blind side.

But I can almost hear someone rise up in defense of “the flesh” and say, but is it not natural to resent wrong, to dislike some people? To crave certain things? To stand up for your own rights? Yes, it is natural, and that is just why it is sinful. That is just what “the flesh” is, it is our natural life, including all we call highest and best as well as all we deem worst and weakest. What God asks us to do is to take the cross section of “the flesh” we have made and condemn it all, to believe in its utter impotence to do good and in its mighty power to do evil.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Oh Lord! We don’t want to face this truth regarding ourselves. We want to hold on to the lie that we are not “that bad”, especially when we compare ourselves with others. Lord, only You can save us and cause us to bend our knees and bow our faces to the ground and confess that God’s estimation of us is true.  Help us not to believe the lies. Our flesh can never be fixed or improved! Lord, have mercy!