Good Day, Meetpastordan Readers… What a crazy morning. Even though I was up at 5:00 am, I just couldn‘t get started. Too many distractions: email, voice mails, issues to follow up on from the past weekend, some FB follow-up and one error correction, 8:00 blood draw, etc. etc. Usually when I sit down to write, I don‘t open anything before I‘m through. So…lesson relearned. But the good news is…me and my new hip are becoming the best of friends. The staples are out now and I‘m walking around the house without the use of a cane. Won‘t be long before I‘m on the dance floor again.

In my search for a place to land today, I decided to turn to the Book of Acts and read for awhile. I remember as a kid, history didn‘t hold much interest for me. But today, I can‘t get enough. I read about the incredible growth of the Jerusalem Church and the bold transformation of Peter, John and James in their presentation of Jesus Christ, followed by Apostle Paul‘s first missionary journey. It‘s interesting to see the opposition they all encountered and the efforts to undermine their message by ruling governments and the religious leaders. They would stop at nothing to silence the Good News, and I couldn‘t help but compare that time to our culture today. It seems nothing much has changed. I was going to pick up on that topic, but instead I was stongly led in this new direction.

I have noticed that when I talk about our sin-nature, or being enslaved to our sin-nature, I most often get push back . “I believe there is good in everyone.“ “I believe everyone wants to do good.“ “I don‘t believe we‘re born with a sin- nature.“ “At birth I think we‘re neither good nor bad.“ So at this point, I definitely see the need to define the meaning of the term in question. Sin-nature simply means we live with the focus on self rather than on God. (In our culture‘s lexicon, the term sin-nature has become “human-nature“. I guess it minimizes the sting.) But remember, at Creation God‘s proudest creation was spiritually connected to Him, and He proclaimed that good. But that spiritual connection was severed when Eve and Adam became disobedient by taking the focus off of God and focusing on their own desires. Consequently, every generation after Adam is also born spiritually disconnected from God. So let‘s see how our sin-nature developes and how it plays out.

When a baby is born, the first thing it becomes aware of is self. It‘s in a new environment filled with lights, people, hustle and bustle, and a different temperature. So what does the baby do? It cries. Why? Perhaps it wants to feel the mother‘s touch again, to feel safe again; perhaps it‘s cold; perhaps it wants to nurse? But make no mistake about it, the baby has becomes aware of self. And it doesn‘t take long for the baby to realize that if it does want something to satisfy its need, whether it‘s to be held and cuddled, or nursed, or changed, crying is the answer.

Now let‘s jump ahead a few years. Once we have figured out what we like and what brings us exaltation, gratification or pleasure, our human nature wants to repeat that “stimulus“. Perhaps we want it often; perhaps we want as much as we can get. Perhaps we even become willing to do whatever we have to do to insure we get it. And therein is the problem. Now we‘re dealing with obsessive, compulsive and addictive behaviors.

In order to satisfy our needs or desires, if necessary we might resort to lying, cheating, stealing, all manners of deception, threats, covetness, aggression, jealousy etc. When our need to satisfy our desires is tharwarted, we will most likely experience anger, hatred, guilt, shame, remorse, depression, stress, withdrawal, aggression, threats, jealousy etc. None of these emotional behaviors have their root in God; they are all products of our sin-nature and our desire to take care of self, or in other words, me, me,me at any expense. Unfortunately, when this describes the state of one‘s heart (more on that later), unwanted, undesired and unhealthy behavior most surely will follow.

Galatians 5:19-21 explains our human condition, and Apostle Paul hits the nail squarely on the head. “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.“ I don‘t know about you, but in my previous life I could have checked all of those boxes!

What I am writing about is what the Bible refers to as our “flesh“. Our flesh is the sum total of all the old thoughts, our old manner of living, our old reactions and responses that we learned and developed to keep us safe and satisfied as we coped with life. This describes our natural life before rebirth (accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior,) . But should we some day become aware of our own insufficiency, experience a trauma, or have a burning-bush esperience, this old “bag of flesh“ becomes an albatross around our necks. Why? Because it‘s all contrary to the way God has called us to live.

Even though we are transformed spiritually at rebirth, there is no mental delete button to erase these strongholds that are deeply rooted in our minds. Unfortunately, satan knows that too. That‘s why our minds become his playground and the battlefied for sabatoging our best efforts to participate in the process of “Sanctification“ (becoming more Christ-like.) God wants us to live a life rooted in love, a life characterized by humility and service to others…just the way Jesus lived. But satan wants none of that! His sole purpose is to keep us mired in the “old self“, to keep us separated from God through his lies, temptations and accusations. And believe me, he is a master at his craft!

Referring once againto Galatians, but this time 5:17-18, the two verses that preceeded the Scripture listed three paragraphs above, Apostle Paul again nails the never-ending battle that characterizes our “Christian walk“. “The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and our choices are never free from this conflict. But when we are directed by the Holy Spirit, we are no longer subject to our sinful nature or the law.“ He goes on to say, (vs 22-23) “But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.“

The mind is part of our physical body. It contains the information input from our natural self. The heart, not the physical heart, but the spiritual inner core of a person, is the part of us that is transformed at rebirth. From that moment of transformation, our inner spirit is now filled with the indwelling Holy Spirit and the process of bringing our soul (mind, will, and emotions) and our body (flesh) in line with our new Spirit, begins. That is the process of Sanctification and it is a life-long journey.

But believe me, the rewards that come from sticking with this journey are overwhelming! This is our source of joy, peace and serenity. The Holy Spirit becomes our guide, our teacher, our counselor, our source of strength, courage, confidence, our rock and our salvation. Once we‘re clothed in the majesty of Jesus Christ, our old self, our old ways, and our old thoughts lose their appeal as they continue to pale by comparison to our new life in Christ. Apostle Paul states this very clearly in Philippeans 3:4-9: “I could have confidene in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own effors, I have even more. For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What‘s more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demanded the strictest obedience to the jewish law. And zealous? Yes, in fact I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault. I once thought these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Jesus Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as rubbish, so that I may have Christ and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God‘s law, but I trust Jesus Christ (Holy Spirit) to save me.“

The truth is, it‘s possible to go from the cradle to the grave living a self-centered life and completely miss the whole panorama that is available to anyone who has the guts to look behind the curtain…God‘s curtain. 1 Corinthians 2:9 gives us a glimpse of what could be: “No eye has seen; no ear has heard; no mind can imagine the wonderous treasures God has prepared for those who love Him!“ So what are you waiting for? If you‘re still of this world…take the plunge! You‘ll never look back.

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May God Bless ya…

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)