Have you ever awakened and just plain felt cruddy? You didn't feel like being nice to anyone let alone praying and talking to God. Have you ever been having a great day, and then someone says something to you that really aggravates you, and you know you shouldn't respond a certain way, but you do it anyway? Sometimes we blame our feelings or reactions on pms, hormones, or lack of chocolate, but I think sometimes we give way too much credit to these things. They are not in control of us, we are. We choose our own actions and reactions.
We are human beings. We are created in God's image to serve and worship Him. We, who are saved and follow Christ are new creations, but we still struggle with what we call our "carnal" or "sinful" nature. It is that aspect of who we are that we are going to be looking at this week, and let me warn you, it isn't a pretty sight.
So, before I post a Bible text, let me ask you to think about a few things. If you want, I would love for you to post your thoughts on these.
When you think of the following phrases, what do you think they mean?
- sinful nature
- carnal nature
- flesh
- crucified with Christ
Post your thoughts on those phrases and then our Bible study text will be in the next blog.
With a heart of worship,
Dorinda
4 comments:
Hey Guys, I may not be right... I had to study a little bit on this and have some help from the Dictionary!! HA HA
Sinful Nature- This is being full of sin or full of guilt.
Carnal Nature- Being of the "world" or "worldly", as in above also being full of sin.
Flesh- The physical nature of humans.
Crucifies with Christ- I believe means to destroy the power our flesh has over us at the time we actually "crucify our flesh."
Joyce
joyce,
it's great!
dorinda
The Bible tells us there are 3 kinds of people:
1. the Natural Man
2. the Spiritual Man
3. the Carnal Man
Natural Man (1 Cor. 2:14)
SELF is on the throne, all interests are directed by self which in turn result in discord and frustration. Natural man places Christ outside of their life.
Spiritual Man (1 Cor. 2:15)
CHRIST is on the throne, self is yielding to Christ. Spriritual man seeks direction by Christ which results in harmony with Gods plan.
Carnal Man (1 Cor. 3:1-3)
SELF is on the throne instead of Christ. Christ is dethroned and not allowed to direct Carnal Mans life. Interests are directed by self instead of Christ resulting in discord and frustration.
There is a common factor when Christ is not on the throne as Natural Man or Carnal Man and that is discord and frustration.
Spiritual Man is where we will find complete peace, abundant love and everlasting joy.
We all fall into one of these catergories: Natural, Spiritual or Carnal man.
Hope this makes sense.
Laurie
I will definitely make reference to this next week or the next. Great stuff!
Dorinda
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