The Daily Struggle – Paul Chappell

“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

Romans 8:12–14

While salvation happens in a single moment (it is immediate rather than something that takes place over time) the process by which God refines our hearts to make us more like Jesus is ongoing throughout our lives. We do not suddenly become everything that God means for us to be. Instead we must take on the work of killing the old nature. This is not something we do through will power of self control, but through the Holy Spirit. We are commanded to be continually mortifying—putting to death, the flesh.

Dr. John R. Rice said, “The new nature is our joy and our hope. We are born of God, we are made partakers of the divine nature. That makes Heaven certain for one who is truly born again. But the old nature is our daily problem, our grief, and our struggle. May God give us grace to recognize the old nature, not to lie about it, not to falsely claim that it is gone, but to face it day by day and conquer it and buffet it and mortify it, to the glory of God.”

Even after salvation, our flesh struggles against us to get us to do wrong. Paul wrote, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:19). We can walk in victory only as we are faithful to fight this battle daily. And thankfully, God provides the strength and the grace to do so.