Good Morning:
Which is better for you, broccoli or ice cream? The answer may actually vary. Healthwise the answer is clearly broccoli. Mentally though, the answer may be ice cream. It is certainly possible to enjoy ice cream in a way that is good for the mind and not detrimental to the body so long as the amount is proportional with your activity, diet, and age. Sometimes though, we just can’t resist the so-called temptation of ice cream. It simply looks too good to say “no”. Well, eating ice cream is only a sin if it is eaten gluttonously, but many other sins in a christian’s life sometimes look too good to say “no” to as well. The new man, given to christians by God, knows that sin is never the answer to finding happiness, but the sinful flesh, present in every person, denies this.
Paul says in Romans 7:18-19 ” For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” Grace from God, the undeserved love of the Immortal Ruler of heaven and earth toward you, changes a person. God’s love for you naturally changes your perspective on life, God, and death. Your new man, given to you by God, sees this change as something wonderful. However the denier of grace, your sinful flesh, sees grace as a burden. In reality grace is everything that God does for you. A true understanding of this concept motivates the new man to change from sinful ways to righteous ways. The sinful flesh’s understanding of this concept sees grace as a burden of additional laws to keep. The sinful flesh sees the temptations of this life as too good to say “no” to and that surely God must be keeping the best from you.
This attitude is exactly how Eve saw the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve thought that God was holding out on her. She thought there was something better out there than perfect life in the Garden of Eden. The sinful flesh thinks there is something better out there too. It denies that grace from God is the only way to heaven and tells you that there surely must be other ways to heaven as well. It says that there must be ways to heaven that include impenitently indulging in the desires of the flesh. This attitude is false. Denying the truth does not accomplish anything. God’s word is truth and to contradict it only makes the sinful flesh a deceived fool, who has denied the goodness of God. Thanks be to God who has given his children the ability to know what grace truly is. Mark 4:23 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
In Christ, Pastor Naumann
