Deny yourself as a man in Christ

"For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Romans 8:13

I heard this during mass yesterday. Let's focus on the heart of this verse, "if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live"

What are the deeds of the body? Sometimes we refer to them as things of the flesh. When Paul wrote this sacred scripture he was speaking to sins of the flesh, not just bodily sins like gluttony but spiritual sins like pride.

As men we are faced with temptations of sins of the flesh as soon as we open our eyes in the morning until we close our eyes at night. Everything from the commercial while were catching the morning news of the attractive women doing whatever with the product she is advertising, to the driver that cuts you off and honks at you. That's just the first couple hours of your day. Then everything that gets thrown at us at work, the coworker that isn't truthful, then while on the Internet were faced with the the multitude of advertisements and the ease of the one mouse click that brings one to a pornographic site. We then get invited to a lunch meeting were topics of conversation can lead to sins of the flesh and spirit, not to mention the alcohol that is available (small note on alcohol, sin does not lie in objects, sin come from us, another topic for another day) then we have our drive home and when we get home, we've been working all day and we may be a little stressed from the day and we are short tempered with our wives, kids, or our dog if one is single. And again we are faced with tv, Internet, and other temptations before we fall asleep.

So why that discourse? Because as scripture says if we live by the flesh (above) we will die, in both a mortal earthly way and in a spiritual and Holy way. But by the Spirit we will put these things to death and live. Just a few verses earlier in vs 10 Paul says that if Christ is in you then even though your body is dead because of sin you live because of righteousness.

So in life do we try to hide from these temptations or do we live life in communion with the spirit and allow His power to give us strength to not allow those temptations to become sin? The only way to be strong enough for that to happen is if the spirit dwells in us. So brothers pray daily for the spirit to live in you and that same spirit to give you the ability to discern and kill the temptation before ever becoming sin. We must do the first thing in the morning and throughout the day. Each of us know when and where those temptations arise, be strong in the spirit and pray for the strength throughout the day.

Be blessed.