This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. There's a war inside the Christian. Not between God and sin. Between flesh and Spirit. Between two inclinations. Two powers. Two alternatives.
I'm a therapist who's watched people swing between rigid self-control and complete indulgence. The rigid ones hate themselves for their desires. The indulgent ones justify their impulses as authentic self-expression. Paul says neither is true. There's a Spirit-life and a flesh-life. The Spirit is life. The flesh is death. Walking in the Spirit isn't repression. It's choosing the other direction.
For me, walking in the Spirit has looked like getting honest about my desires instead of pretending they don't exist. It's looked like asking: what am I really hungry for? Am I hungry for connection or for numbness? Am I hungry for significance or for control? The Spirit-ward answer is different from the flesh-ward answer. But I can only choose the Spirit-ward answer if I'm honest about what I'm hungry for. That clarity is what allows the Spirit to guide.
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