OVERCOMING THE CARNAL NATURE AND SIN

The devil's character is totally opposed to God's character and so are his actions and modus operandi. We are most frequently attacked by thoughts and implicit feelings that can make us be mean, judge others harshly, and make excuses for ourselves. The enemy wants us to believe that only ourselves matter, and no one else is as important as we are. It urges us to seek only our personal gain, no matter what the cost. It tells us that we deserve the best, even if we have to step on others to get what we think we deserve, because we don't have to care about those around us. And the biggest deception is that God is a harsh master who only has demands from us, without loving us or wanting anything good for us, and we are better off away from Him. When we act this way, we act like the devil and are the opposite of what God created us to be.

• Romans 6:16-17 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

 
So when we are hurt or offended, it is easier to give in to the temptation to sin or take revenge. The deeper we sink into the pit of pain and self-pity, the more time and effort it takes to get out. Jesus said very clearly, "'Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.'" (John 8:34). This means that the evil one is on the throne of the heart of the one who lives led by sin, and not Jesus. There are people who believe they are Christians because they prayed once for Jesus to become the Lord of their lives, but continued to live as they always did, in the same sins, without changing anything. The truth is that after a sincere prayer of repentance and the desire to become a true follower of Christ, the new birth occurs. But for Jesus to truly reign in our hearts, we must draw close to God, study His Word, ask Him for help in understanding it, and do what He teaches us. By studying the Bible we renew our minds, replacing the worldly way of thinking with God’s truth, and as a result we begin to change (Romans 12:2).
 
As we understand the truth about who God is, what He is like, what He likes and what He doesn't, we begin to more easily identify thoughts that come from the enemy or from our own sinful nature and oppose them with the truth of Scripture. Only the truth defeats a lie. Jesus said to those who had believed in Him:

• ... “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” – John 8:31b-32

 
We cannot know the Word of God if we only make "short visits" to it in moments of crisis. We must remain in the Word as a daily practice, not out of duty as if to check it off a list, but with a heart to truly know the Lord and learn how to live according to Him. The study of God’s Word increases our desire to communicate with our heavenly Father through prayer, to tell him what troubles us and to listen for His answers.

• John 1:1,14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [...] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
  

 
To be disciples of Jesus, we must learn from Him. And how can we learn if we do not study the Word of God? Only through the study of the Bible and through fellowship with the Lord in prayer and worship, can we know Jesus and learn from Him so that we can follow Him.
 
As we grow in the knowledge of the truth, we will become truly free. Why? Because the truth of Scripture renews our minds and frees us from the yoke of wrong teachings and sinful desires of the fallen nature and especially from the deceptions and lies of the devil.

• Romans 6:6,11-14 Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. […] Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
  

 
At the moment of being born again we were united with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, and the old man was crucified together with the Lord. Because Jesus died to sin once, we must know that we died to sin when we were born again. But we must know the truth that the carnal nature, the old man, was stripped of its power. We must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ, as we believe without a doubt that we can refuse to sin.
 
We were all born with Adam's sinful nature and were sinners before we spoke our first word or committed our first sin. Only after Jesus paid through His sacrifice for all the sins of mankind, was our reconciliation with God and freedom from the bondage of sin possible. That is why every man must be born-again, to become a child of God and be free from the dominion of sin and the author of sin, that is, Satan (John 8:44).
 
Before being born-again, no one can live completely clean, because the sinful nature is stronger than man's will to do good. Even the most moral people have sinned because of being under the bondage of the sinful nature.
 
But praise be to the Lord, through Jesus we are freed from the bondage of sin, and as we renew our minds, we can master it. The more often we choose to think about how much God loves us and the truth of Scripture regarding all that tempted us in the past, and we realize that the devil has lost his right to rule over us, we renew our minds and make the right decisions, through which we live right, according to God’s will.

• Ephesians 3:16-19 teaches us that in order to be overcomers and filled with all the fullness of God, Jesus must dwell in our hearts by faith, we must be rooted in His love and know it as deeply as possible. But to get there, we pray to the heavenly Father to strengthen us with might through His Spirit in our inner man,
  

• 1 Corinthians13:4-7 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
  

 
We can be sure that any thought, desire, or feeling that is contrary to the definition of "agape" love does not come from God and is of carnal or evil origin, and if acted upon, it costs us. Everything I listed at the beginning of this blog is the opposite of God's love and character. Through Jesus all these no longer have the right to rule over us, but it is up to us to choose whom we serve and to make the right choices.
 
A renewed mind chooses to think about what the next verse says.

• Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.
  

 
The more we manage to think in this way, the more often we will overcome the temptations of the devil, make the right decisions, have the peace and joy that comes from pleasing the Lord, and as a result we are able to speak and act according to His will. Let's keep our hearts grateful and full of praise to God so that we can hear what the Lord is leading us to do when we go through trials and are tempted. Such behavior is the recipe for a fulfilled and truly happy life!

Carmen Pușcaș