It is God who created us in these physical bodies, and designed every of its functions, to make it operate the way we do, which is what we call, living. It is Him who “…gives to all men life and breath and everything-Act-17:25”. It therefore is a proven truth that, it is God who, created the senses in man; the sense of admiration, appreciation, enjoyment, pleasure, self esteem, boasting, and many others. To make possible the application of this senses, God ordained body activities. He gave man sexual intercourse- to perfect the bond of union in marriage- Gen.2:25; 1 Cor.6:16”; He gave man wine- to gladden his heart-psal.104:15; music and dancing- to rejoice the heart; skills and abilities- for self-awareness and acceptance, and the like. God made this body of dust, of short life, and with short-comings here and there- Job.14:1-2; 1 Cor.15:53, showing that the body is not perfect in its functions or living. After creating the physical man so wonderfully, and those things that accompany his life, “God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good-Gen.1:31”. Now, after a very good-everything, body included, God went ahead and warned man saying, “ this body is dust, perishable and at some point, it must return to dust-Gen.3:19; He also tells us that, in this body, there is nothing good-Rom.7:18; that it is hostile and opposive to the life that God created man to live by-Rom.8:7; Gal.5:17; that, if we live according to what it desires, we will die-Rom.8:13”. Hey God our father! Isnt it you who created the body with its desires, and the senses to feel them? Isnt it also you who said it is among the very-good things you created? How come now, you are telling us not to attend to its desires, lest we die? Are these two information contradicting each other? Why very good, and at the same time very dangerous?
VERY GOOD BODY
If attending to the body desires will kill us, and those behaviors are about the only life we know, the only activities that makes life operative, then, what is good about the body? I will repeat, it is very good. Good, when its behaviours are there to kill us! Yes, very good. In what sense then is the body very good? “ and God said, let us make man(like us) in our image, and in our likeness……..that he may rule upon the earth-Gen.1:26”. Seeing that God is spirit, eternal, and perfect in all aspects, it is an agreeable truth that He has not yet finished creating man, because once finished, man will be like God in every way-Phillip.3:21( review our message, “ what is man”). So, what is good about this first stage of man’s creation which is physical and rejective of God intended life for him? To answer this question, we need to ask ourselves; “ what is the next stage in God’s, man’s creation-process( check details in our message “ why the physical bodies?”)? For those who don’t know as yet, God right now is in the stage of creating his mind and behaviour in man, and this is the second stage in his man’s creation process. For man to be like God, or rather, for God to start imparting His mind which will enable man to know and so apply the knowledge in doing, which develops behaviour, man must freely choose and love to be like Him. And this is where the seemingly contradicting, God,s word about man is; that of a very good, and yet, a death-bringing one. Let’s understand please so that we fit ourselves in God’s plain and very good and clear plan for us. “ We are God’s workmanship…..; His building-Eph.2:10; 1 Cor.3:9”. Therefore, for God to build his mind and character in us which He begins only when man, first, freely chooses; there must be an alternative choice. That choice is what the body and its desires are for.
A DECEITFUL LIFE
When God was creating man, Satan was already in the world. After creating Adam, he placed him in a world that was under Satan’s control and allowed Satan to continue being there. What for? “ ……to test you, to know what is in your heart( whether you have truly chosen his way), whether you will keep his commandments( against Satan’s) or not-Deut.8:2; Judges.2:22”. This now brings us back to our wonder of how the body can be very good while, abiding by it will make us die. God prepared this human body in the very nature of Satan, and gave it a short-lived life packed with very appetizing seemingly joy-giving, and entertaining activities, the like of sex, beer-taking, music and dancing, boasting in self esteem etc. He also made it to be sustained by materialism, and gave it a mind that can only understand the physical. So this is one set, and side of life which deals physically. All it understands, strives for, rejoices in, depends on, and is the physical. So, according to this physical stage which we are calling a complete set of lifestyle, life depends on materialism, and people. Without these (beginning with self), one can’t survive. In this set of life, the spirit world is unknown, a good reason why man talks about, and deals with himself, the people around him, and material possessions. Being in the very opposive-to-God-nature of Satan, is the very reason why in this physical life, men, don’t strive to understand and do anything which is against God life(word). The body’s nature is after Satan’s nature. So, when Satan speaks, he speaks what the body desires, which is, “…always against God’s life-Rom.8:7”. All because, the body is meant to be the very, circumstance in which man, by opposing it, proves his obedience to God. Yes, it is a trying agent, for, “it desires against the spirit, and the spirit, against it-gal.5:17”. Also, before God by His spirit reveals the other set of life which is spiritual, man knows this physical only. So, since its glory is materialism (review the message, “the everlasting faith”), then, its pinnacle is being wealthy. The only joy of life it knows is physical, sexual entertainment, drunkenness, expensive dressing, priding, and playing superior. While it is God who created these things, and put the senses in man, the aim was not for them to be applied according to this physical right-now-lifestyle. They were meant to be done according to God’s ordained purpose. Their goodness, though destructive when misapplied, is, “for discipline….. which for the moment seems painful, rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it-heb.12:7, 11”. Are we getting it friends? Character development necessitates discipline which can’t be, where there is no opposition. The point is, God is not denying us sex, or beer-taking, or even boasting, or self-appreciation, etc. He only wants them to be applied according to his law, while on the other hand, the body wants them according to Satan’s will, which is, “……deceitful and corrupt-Eph.4:22”. Now, since this body is short-lived, and the only life it takes pleasure in is that of Satan-Rom.8:7, when one chooses to rejoice in the flesh, and to safe-guard its interests, and satisfy its desires, this amounts to what Christ called, “….saving self which actually is loosing it”. Why? First, what feels joyous when being attended to, has very destructive effects(to prove it is deceitful). Drunkenness destroys body life and results in premature death, liver- burning, and the; is this truly rejoicing? Illicit sex destroys the body also, resulting to divorces- Aids and suffering, single-parent’s children, is this rejoicing! Pride brings conflicts and wars, ending in killing, and continuous stress which eliminates peace, joyful! Secondly, after all this physical suffering, the destination is, the body must go down to the grave and turn into dust-Rom.rom.8:6; is it joyous to, knowingly, live all your life, just to prepare for death? Don’t you think Christ is right to say, you will die if you try to save the flesh by giving it its desires? This short-lived joys of the flesh- “…the fleeting pleasures of sin-Heb.11:26”, yet very destructive, are the very trick, which Satan uses to blind-fold men into pursuing death unawares. They make man not to see sense when God warns against them, for, being in the fleshly mind, they enjoy doing them, for according to the flesh, they are the only pleasure there is in life.
GOD’S PURPOSE
So now, having known all this, what then is very good about this wretched body of sin and death-rom.7:24? Though God has created us in this physical bodies, his aim is not for it. This is just a stage within his process of man’s creation. We all know that, God wants a man who is like Him, i.e, who is a spirit being, and perfect in all aspects of life, in the same way God is, for He tells us, “ you must be holy, for I am holy”, and again, “ we therefore must be perfect, as our heavenly father is perfect-Lev.19:2; Mat.5:48”. Brethren, the physical body, with its satanic nature and deceitful, physical-joy-giving desires, is for choice making. God wants to make us, eternal perfect beings, lacking in nothing. He has also created this body in opposition to that offer of eternal life, and all of us are now standing between the two, to freely choose one. “ Those who have chosen the flesh, have limited their knowledge to fleshly things only, and are pursuing the short-lived life which ends in the grave-Rom.8:5-6”. For them, the eternal spiritual life, which is the very purpose why God created all human beings-Heb.2:10-11, is non-existent, for, “ the fleshly man does not receive the spiritual gifts of God, for they are folly to him, neither can he understand them, for they are spiritually discerned-1 Cor.2:14”. So, if we will go by God’s purpose for us, we can’t engage ourselves with this set of life which is the physical. What can we liken it with? It’s like someone who is going home through a country in which he is a stranger, unwelcomed, and continually molested. Can this person relax and be at comfort while in this strange country? Surely no.Listen to those who pursued the course before us. “Beloved, I beseech you, as aliens and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your souls- 1 Pet.2:11”. This is how those who have understood God’s purpose for them, behave in this physical life, for, they are not at ease, they have nothing to rejoice in, except in the hope of getting home; “For while in this fleshly life, they sigh with anxiety; not that they be unclothed(have the opposive body destroyed), but that they be further clothed, so that this body may be replaced with the promised spiritual one-2 Cor.5:4”. So, if we are looking forward to that, and are bent to get there, is there any possibility of being diverted to the flesh? Can’t be. As long as we are walking in the spirit, we are supressing the flesh and its desires, and it is continually fighting back. So, its goodness is to oppose your eternal-life-choice, so that, by rejecting it, “ ..your faith in eternal life is being tested for confirmation, and by continuous obedience, you are developing steadfastness(staying put- character-building), which will perfect(remember we have to be like God(perfect) and complete you, making you to lack in nothing-James.1:2”.Surely, is this not very good? As we saw previously, every trial at the moment feels painful, “…but after successfully enduring the test, we will achieve the God’s purpose of creating us, the promised crown of life-Jam.1:12”. If we look at this death-pursuing physical body with its lifestyle from this angle, we will truly agree with God that, “behold, it’s very good-Gen.1:31”, for by it, we are developing the character necessary for eternal life-Heb.12:14.
FOR OVERCOMERS
Having now known the secret behind the body and its appealing pleasures, and why we need it, and seeing that the time for God to accomplish his purpose for our lives is almost come, “since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God—2Pet.3:11-12?” Because we have freely chosen to pursue eternal life, then brethre, we cant continue to stand on the fulcrum(at the boundary), yes we cant any longer, continue jumping between the two lifestyles( the flesh and the spirit); I mean, we can no longer entertain double mindedness. We chose eternal life because we clearly understood it. And God through his word, in Jesus Christ, “ has given us everything that we need to pursue it successfully-2Pet.1:3-4”. We must therefore strive to, completely eradicate, yes, “ put off that old mind of our fleshly life, which is deceitful and destructive-Eph.4:22”. As long as the flesh is alive, it will fight back, empowered by Satan who is also continually broadcasting. So we will always hear his voice, reminding you of that former life. But now that, we have the mind of God( holy spirit), we know and do understand whenever Satan speaks. As a commited people, ones who now know what is awaiting us, and who know what we need to get there, will we waste time, listening to him? Yes, will we try to engage in that which is not helping us move towards our goal? Our examples are here telling us, “Firm in your faith, resist him—“; and again, “resist the devil and he will flee- 1Pet.5:9; Jam.4:7”. The zeal and desire to do so is stirred by the realization of the “…joy that is set before us…..”; because of which, “we consider the right now suffering as nothing when we compare with the glory which will be ours-rom.8:18”. This desire and eye on eternal life will give us the strength to “destroy arguments (the opposive fleshly passions), and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ-2 Cor.10:5”. For those who will continually do so to the end, Christ will be formed in them, thus being perfected in godly character. This will bring us to the end of our struggle. The first set of life which is physical, has this physical body aligning with the evil spirit very smoothly. Now, those of us who will qualify in becoming like God (mind and behavior-wise) will have complete suppression of the body, thus, “ crucifying it with its desires-Gal.5:24”. Since, until the body is either dead, or removed by way of change, it can’t give in to spiritual life-Rom.8:7, then, God will not live us content with it forever. We have fully convinced him beyond reasonable doubt, and this against the flesh that we want to live forever. We are here, having fully captivated the body. God will also then do his part, being also ,a fulfillment of the desire of the work of his hands, that of making a man who is like him. We now have the eternal mind and behaviour in us with this short lived body. Therefore, Because we have fully convinced him of our desire to live forever, the, He will also fulfill the desires of our hearts-psalm.37:4; He will finish his creation process for man, by “…changing our file bodies that they may be like his glorious one-Phil.3:21; see also-2 cor.15:52-53”. Yes, he will give us spirit bodies which will agree with the spirit that we have chosen, thus, enabling us to from that moment, enjoy everlasting permanent peace and happiness in all perfection. This is the other set of life, the one god purposed for all who will choose it. Brethren, isn’t it surely very good? Brethren, “See, I have set before you this day, life and good, and death and evil( the two sets of life- fleshly and spiritual)- deut.30:15”. The ball is on everyone’s side. Choose whether to score or not. How I would that we all scored. He who has ears, let him/her hear what the spirit is telling the church. The grace of our Lord and His love which abides forever be with all those who are for this course.
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