AN INCONVENIENT CONVENIENCE

AN INCONVENIENT CONVENIENCE!

Titus 3:1-3

3 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

Gal 5:17

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

           The body is inconvenient to the spirit! It makes demands, pouts and shouts childishly until it is satisfied. Even the stomach is said to “growl” until it is filled. The body regards not the weariness in others nor the hunger.

           On the night he was arrested, Jesus asked his disciples and Peter “could ye not watch with me one hour?” Matt 26:40. This must have been an uncomfortable question to someone who declared that he was willing to die for his master. Jesus then gives some relief when he says: “the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.”

           What is it that makes grandma drag her weary bones out of bed on Sunday morning so that she can attend worship at her church? What urges her to give an offering from her meager pension? What is it that keeps the young and vital in bed? What keeps them broke and in debt? What is the difference? The difference is discipline! Grandma is no less pained and her body is no less demanding but she was raised in a different time with a different mindset. The flesh is not only weak but downright uncooperative regarding the spirit.

1 Thess 5:5-6

5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

Merciful Lord, my body should be my servant but so often it demands to be my master. Give me the strength and courage to do the right things even when it is inconvenient. AMEN