Most babies follow a pattern of development. Instinctively they demand the needs of their bodies be met, because this is the 'biggest' and most important part. Food, drink, clean diaper, warmth etc. are all a part of this. It isn't until some time after the initial needs are met that the baby becomes curious, wanting to see, touch, taste everything, crawling to find new objects and experience new sensations. This is usually what drives a baby to the walking stage.
Some time during the curiosity stage, the baby learns to talk in its desire to communicate better. There are sounds, then syllables, then strings of syllables, finally the formation of easy words, and then more difficult ones. Eventually the baby learns to put sentences together and THEN begins the constant talking and 'whys'... For some of us at least!
We follow a similar pattern of development that happens when we are born again or become a true Christian. As man, we have these three parts of us, "...spirit and soul and body..." (1Th. 5:23) There is the body or fleshly part of us; the one that wants our needs (and what we perceive as needs) met. This seems to be the biggest part of us because even if we have a few good hours/ days/ weeks with the Lord, eventually our flesh wants what it wants when it wants it no matter what God wants... and why would we even think to ask Him? (sorry, Lord...)
Then there is the soul which basically is what makes us who we are as individuals: our mind, intellect, will, emotions, personality, passions- basically our inner being. This part of us is smaller than the flesh, but is able to exert control occasionally over it. The smallest part when we are first saved is our spirit. That is the connecting with God part of us that He put in us since the beginning of man.
The body or our flesh is not ready to be transformed yet- not until Jesus comes again (Php. 3:21). In the meantime, the "...carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can it be." (Rm. 8:7) Carnal mind here in the Greek means fleshly inclination. Our flesh is the enemy of God, it hates God and His authority and longs to keep control of our own life. We will fail time and again if we try to subdue this part of ourselves without growth in the soul or spirit.
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| The stronger one usually wins out over the weaker. Which is stronger, our spirit, soul or body? |
Our spirit needs to grow through first through nourishment of the Word as in the Bible, the Word as in Jesus, the Father and the Spirit. Prayer, devotions, studying the Word, meditation on the Word/ Lord, fellowship with believers, solid teaching, applying the Word to our lives, obeying God's teaching, etc; all these things help to grow our spirit so that it gets bigger and becomes strong IN THE LORD, mature.
You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect. Mt. 5:48 AMP
As our spirit exercises and 'grows' bigger, our soul begins to transform; our thought process, will, emotions, passions- our inner being changes. Now there is a war inside of us: our flesh continues to try and exert control, but our growing spirit gets stronger and exerts godly influence over the soul which exerts change in the flesh. (Paul speaks of this inner war in Rm. 7:14-23.) We fail, we get up and try again only to fail and repeat. The difference is this:
As we fellowship closer with God, learn His Word in depth and apply what we learn to our lives (how we act, think and speak), then our failures become less frequent: our flesh begins to loose control, and our mind exalts itself less, because our spirit is getting stronger.
So we need to stop whining and crying because 'we sinned again' and do something about it! We need to get into the Word and God's presence more and more, and allow our spirit to grow/ mature and our mind to transform, and then we will find we sin less and less.
It's all in how we set ourselves to develop...