Live No Lies
“The heart wants what it wants.” —Woody Allen
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“the three enemies of the soul”
- The world
- The flesh
- The devil
The flesh
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” —Ephesians 2.1-5
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” —Ephesians 6.12
The devil’s go-to strategy for ruin:
Deceptive ideas that play to disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful society.
Flesh/sinful nature
“Cravings” (Ephesians 2.3)
“Sinful passions” (Romans 7.5)
“Corrupt desires” (1st Peter 2.10)
Flesh: the base, animalistic, primal drive in us for self-gratification.
“This above all: to thine own self be true.”
“Modern authenticity encourages us to create our own beliefs and morality, the only rule being that they must resonate with who we feel we really are. The worst thing we can do is conform to some moral code that is imposed on us from outside – by society, our parents, the Church, or whoever else. It is deemed to be self-evident that any such imposition would undermine our unique identity…The authentic self believes that personal meaning must be found within ourselves or must resonate with our one-of-a-kind personality.” —Jonathan Grant, Divine Sex
“Just as in earlier time it was thought never fitting to deny God, so now it seems never right to deny oneself.” —Robert C. Roberts
The law of returns
Every cause has an effect. The effect is often disproportionate to the cause.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” —Paul, Galatians 6.7-9
“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature…To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.” —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“First they will not; in the end, they cannot.” —C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
In the beginning we have a
Practices
Fasting
Confession
“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” —James 5.16
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” —Galatians 6.9
This Week’s Songs
- Breathe
- Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)
- The Old Rugged Cross
- Peace Be Still
- The Stand