Scripture: Galatians 5:17
Song: I remove my flesh by Emali
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” — Galatians 5:17 (KJV)
We often pray for God to add something to our lives: more grace, more power, more wisdom and greater spiritual depth. Yet growth does not always begin with addition; sometimes it begins with removal.
Circumcision involves cutting away flesh. From a health perspective, removing the foreskin can make personal hygiene easier and reduce the risk of some infections. The flesh is not polished, covered or managed; it is removed.
Scripture uses circumcision to describe an inward work God wants to do within us: “putting off the body of the sins of the flesh.” There is flesh that has grown around the heart that must also be cut away.
The flesh is not the human body. It is the nature within us that resists God, insists on its own way and places personal desire above His will. Paul says, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” They pull in opposite directions. As long as the flesh is allowed to rule, it will oppose every step the Spirit calls us to take.
The flesh stands against what the Spirit wants to produce in us. The Holy Spirit is not weak, but His work in our lives can be resisted. He wants love to grow, but the flesh keeps offences alive. He wants self-control, but the flesh insists on satisfying every appetite. He wants obedience, but the flesh keeps negotiating. He wants to work through us, but pride wants the attention.
Some of this flesh has been growing for years such that it has formed layers. Anger may be the layer we can see, while pride lies underneath it. The need to control everything may be covering fear. What appears to be hard work may be driven by the desire to outshine others. Even service to God may be hiding a hunger for recognition.
Removing one outward habit is not enough if the root remains untouched. We may stop the action while keeping the desire that produced it. Soon, the same flesh appears in another form.
This explains why a person can receive God’s Word and remain unchanged. The Word says forgive, but the flesh insists on holding the offence. God says wait, but the flesh demands immediate satisfaction. The problem is not always that we do not know what God wants, but something within us refuses to yield.
The flesh does not only lead us into sin; it also keeps us from growing. It keeps us easily offended, difficult to correct and unwilling to serve without recognition. It makes us compare ourselves with others and become troubled when they prosper. It can turn prayer into a search for personal advantage and ministry into a place to be noticed. Wherever self must be protected, praised or obeyed, the flesh is still active.
However, spiritual circumcision goes deeper. God cuts through every layer until He reaches what has been ruling the heart. He does not only deal with what people can see. He touches the private desire, the protected motive and the hidden agreement that keeps the flesh alive.
No matter how thick the flesh has become, it must be torn away. We cannot keep a thin layer because it feels harmless or preserve an old layer because it has become part of us. Anything that prevents the Spirit from having His way must go.
This cutting is painful because the flesh is attached. It has grown around our identity, comfort and way of responding to life. We have called some of it personality, wisdom, boldness or self-protection. But changing its name has not changed its effect. It is still hindering our growth.
When God commanded Abraham to be circumcised, Scripture says that he obeyed “in the selfsame day”. He did not carry the instruction into another week. The pain of cutting the flesh was better than living another day with God’s command unanswered.
Scripture has no gentle word for dealing with the flesh. It says mortify it, crucify it and cut it off. We call it a weakness or something we are still working on, but God calls it an enemy of the Spirit. The softer names we have given it have allowed it to survive.
Until the flesh is cut away, spiritual growth will remain something we desire, discuss and pray about without experiencing. Submit to the inward circumcision of Christ. Let Him remove what has stood between you and the person He is calling you to become.
Prayer
Lord, I have asked You to make me grow while protecting the very things that keep me from growing. Search me and expose every desire, habit and attitude that resists Your Spirit. Give me the courage to cut off what You reveal and, by Your Spirit, put the flesh to death. I refuse to remain spiritually small; let the life of Christ grow freely in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Leave a Reply