The Spirit and the Flesh - Part 2

Galatians V. 16, 17.

I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want.

Between the flesh and the spirit an eternal conflict exists.

First, the realism of the flesh creates a world of pleasure, endless and bountiful, by emphasizing fun and frivolity. Here is continual pursuit of mayhem and disorder, here is obedience to a childish anarchy tempered with the slowing decaying smell of ripe fruit waiting for the arrival of fruit flies. The mind often exists within a famine of delusions, petrified by diversions and formulas of avoidance and apathy. Fun requires neither contemplation nor discernment. Both, are frequently banished. Without hope or love or compassion life proceeds with a reckless fragility waiting to break.

Language creates lust. How the eyes look at an object and then how the brain interprets can lead to lustful desires. Lust does not bring life, lust does not precede love. Lust is lackadaisical; often it is a hodgepodge of competing and conflicting impulses which desire attention and response. How many languid moments of unfettered, unadulterated lust are modern people exposed to because of the omnipresent media? There is something lawless in lust which is often not captured in words but observed in gestures and glances. The languor of desire is often both amusing and frightening.

Everyday the flesh decides what is easy, what is evil. Epigrams are created in the morning; epigraphs are shared with cocktails; and epitaphs are served cold with dinner. The flesh likes things flashy, effervescent. The flesh often eviscerates both faith and love by encouraging immediacy of action and the eviternity of love and friendship. The flesh likes to to talk about eternity but treats the idea with a bright neon type of flashing pessimism. Eager and eavesdropping with a false, often chilly ebullience appears the flesh under close examination.

Sin is fun. Sin likes to be first in both heart and mind. How easy it is to be selfish and frivolous! How easy it is to be a slave to lust and other delusions! When the flesh rules the conscience, the heart and soul are forced into a fretful, uneasy slumber. Stretch marks are frequently the byproducts of sin.

Hollow feelings accompany a life lived for the heat of the flesh. A special torturous habeas corpus waits to present all of the horror and debauchery and decadence of hackneyed lust and avarice. How hagridden a life without love, mercy, and compassion becomes.