As Christians the biggest obstacle to our walk with the Lord is the “old man”… that unregenerate flesh that lives with us 24/7.
Our spirits have received the life of God but our flesh… given the opportunity… is still full of the live of Adam… that fallen man we all come from.
There’s a daily battle between the spirit and the flesh. The two are in conflict.
Born again Christians, how can we can deal with this conflict? The old covenant way… Law… the new covenant way… Christ?
Law makes rules for the flesh. We’ve all been there… and failed… condemned by our failure… so we “rev up” our resolve… and bang… we fail again.
The “failing point” of the old covenant was exactly that… our inability to live by it… so Christ, through grace and mercy, fulfilled it for us to become the mediator of a new covenant. Law was nailed to the cross… Christ is the end of the law to those who believe.
A new covenant of the heart ensued… the Spirit of God writing on the tablets of our hearts… the Holy Spirit at work in us, changing our desires… but the old man… it’s still there and there’s only one way for him… that’s to “die daily”… for us to be ready to accept the work of the cross each day by being ready for “death to work in us so that life can work in others.” (2 Cor 4:12).
Without embracing the cross daily we cannot walk or live by the Spirit… we will be born again but continually carnal Christians – always failing and always discouraged.
Christ our hope… the cross, the power and wisdom of God for us!
- Mark Saunders