Today I returned to visit the website title Biblical Diagnosis and while it’s been inactive since April, this article, the most recent posted, resonated with much of what we often hear these days.
No Confidence in the Flesh
…Friends, it is astonishing to see just how anti-biblical some of the deeply held beliefs in our societies are. And it is even more troubling when we see that they are deeply held even by our own Christian brothers.
Take for instance, the notion that we need to believe in ourselves.
This commonly accepted belief takes many forms: We need to have faith in ourselves. We can do anything that we put our minds to. We have amazing potential that just needs to be unleashed. These are just some of the ways this belief is expressed.
We see this belief applied in every domain of our lives, all geared toward some “betterment” of ourselves, our loved ones or our community, whether it be physical fitness, career advancement, or wealth generation.
But look at how the Apostle Paul expresses one of the defining characteristics of Christ’s followers:
Philippians 3:3 – …we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh
The statement…do not put confidence in the flesh…refers to the fact that Christians should believe that they are incapable of doing anything worthy of anything by themselves, through some form of inner ability that – as being widely believed today – all of us may possess (what the Scripture calls the flesh).
Romans 7:18 – For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
This statement is perhaps even more troubling and echoes the sentiment of Philippians 3. Paul said that nothing good lives in him. It is incongruent to both believe that nothing good lives in you and at the same time believe that you have within you what it takes to accomplish anything worthy.
Now, you may at this point read these and call to mind the countless stories of success (your own, or of others) which attest to the contrary: Evidences which prove that indeed we have within ourselves the ability to accomplish whatever we put our minds into.
Romans 3:4 – …Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar
Man does indeed have an inner ability, but it is not to do anything good
How we do reconcile what the scripture says with the countless evidences which seem to affirm the opposite of what God says?
I submit to you that one may find the answer – among other places – in Romans 7:18 we just read.
Romans 7:18 – For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
Whatever we can accomplish through the strength of our will, our inner strength (however that ability is labeled) is not good.
But what is “good”?
GOD defines what is good (unless we want to define for ourselves what is good, at which point we have made of ourselves our own God). And only things that can be accomplished through Him and Him alone are considered good. Everything else is not good.
Hence we may say, that if one desires to satisfy the passions of his flesh, he indeed has the ability to do so within himself, for his flesh is inside him. But the one who desires to do anything that is good – and hence, pleasing to God – is incapable to do so but with the help of God Himself.
Should we therefore hold onto the belief that we can do anything we put our minds to?
No, we run away from it, for that mentality only promotes the flesh, and its sinful desires, no matter how holy those desires may portray themselves. Just think of the Galatians who thought it a good thing to circumcise themselves (Galatians 3:1-5).
And this applies to ALL of our aspirations in life. No matter how noble and right they might appear. If we are able to attain to them through our own strength, then we ought to know that they were nothing more than the sinful desires of our flesh.
In me dwells no good thing. I place no confidence in my flesh. I am incapable of doing anything that is good, for myself, my children or my community. I am wretched and miserable, destitute.
Romans 7:24 – What a wretched man I am!
We should truly believe in our utter destitution so that we may truly believe in our utter dependence on God.
Only with the profound belief that we are destitute and incapable of doing anything good for ourselves or anyone will we cherish and hold onto our dependence on GOD, THROUGH WHOM WE CAN DO EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD.
Philippians 4:13 – I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
May the Spirit of Christ ministers to you the Word of Truth, for the glory of His own Name.
Christianity 201 