“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do
the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under
the law.” (Galatians 5:16-18 NKJV)
Why do Christians experience depression, boredom,
loneliness, emptiness, and the like? Can these be avoidable or not? Yes, it is
possible not to succumb to the desires of sin in Christ. No, it is not possible
unless we do not decide to reject the desires of lust and passion. A new way of
life is offered to the regenerated Christians in Christ. The way to holiness
has been given by God through the death of Christ. The instructions of
accessing to the Holy God are described in the Book of Leviticus. God is
willing to give the deepest needs of humanity—love, joy, and peace if we come
and ask for Him according to the prescriptions of the Holy One.
It is significant to take heed to the instructions given by
God because there is no other way. Christ is the way to the holiness of God. Without
blood no purification. The wages of sin is death. Human problem is much higher,
deeper, wider, and longer than anyone can fathom. Man is a three-fold being,
body, soul, and spirit. When Adam fell in the beginning, his spirit stopped
working as it was intended to do. The scripture says man is dead in sin and trespasses.
It means the spirit in man is dead, being isolated and separated from God and
His full riches in Christ. Under the power of sin and death, man is spiritually
dead that man is in complete darkness and confusion. Body and soul are still
functioning but no light in them. Man is by birth doomed to the confusion and
darkness of evil power and eventually to the judgment of God.
Out of ignorance and witlessness, man powerlessly succumbs
to the evil one because he is dead in spirit. But now according to the promise
of God given through Moses and the Prophets, Christ has come in the hearts of the
believers by means of the Spirit. Out of longsuffering and mercy, God sent His
begotten Son Christ Jesus to the earth and whoever believes in Him shall not
perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). When Christ is received by a
believing man, God liberates him from the bondage of sin and death that his
spirit has been made alive to function what God intended him to function in the
beginning. So, he is no longer in darkness and confusion under the influence of
the devil but in the light of Creator God and Christ Jesus.
Therefore, in Christ we have received the power to reject
the evil and to choose to obey God. In the past, it was impossible to stand
before the Holy God. But now the door is open for the believers of Christ to
access to the throne of grace through the faith in the blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ. All kinds of stresses and pressures are mounting on the people including
the regenerated Christians. Sorrow, despair, fear, guilt attack us like a
decrying lion that looks after the preys to devour. However, we do not need to
be the victims of the devil any longer because we are in Christ and He in us,
the hope of glory. That’s the good news.
Do not neglect the warning of the scriptures. Unless we
choose to obey the commandments of God, we cannot escape from the darkness and
confusion empowered by the devil. Consequently, all those symptoms shall be
visibly manifested like sheer boredom, loneliness, emptiness, anger,
frustration, hatred, despair, guilt, fear over and over again. But we don’t
have to choose those things wicked at all, because Christ paid the price once
for all. We are set free by the word of truth. That’s what we are.
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do
the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under
the law.” (Galatians 5:16-18 NKJV)
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