A YOUNG WOMAN'S INSIGHT INTO THE HUMAN HEART

 My Surprising Conversation with Bethany

by Brad Scheelke

   Bethany (about 22) came to Oasis Books and Conversation September 11 and asked about a specific Tolkien essay. We chatted about Tolkien and CS Lewis and I asked if she was a student at USU. She was and I told her about Professor Kleiner and his class on Tolkien and Lewis. She was unaware but interested. The conversation turned to Viktor Frankl and his vision that we live by our awareness of meaning. She expressed curiosity about not hearing of him. I opened his favorite of his books and read from the preface about our lack of ability to choose to love, to choose to believe, to choose to hope, or to choose to choose. She agreed and was intrigued.

     I told her I thought she was a fully valuable person. She smiled and thanked me. This accelerated our conversation as we discussed implications and applications of this. 

She told me about her LDS mission to Brazil, from which she recently returned. She mentioned meeting many troubled people there who had been treated as worthless. When we talked about the importance of good expectations, she mentioned trying to do good. I pointed to the chalkboard behind me (shown here) and asked what she thought of it. She liked it. I then asked the difference between her word trying and the word trust on the chalkboard. She said trying focused on her ability and trust focused on God. I heartily affirmed her words and told her I often discuss this difference, but few people seem to notice the difference as she had. We discussed some implications of the difference.

What does the natural man (the flesh) want to do?

I asked what she thought of the natural man being an enemy of God. She said it was true, said the flesh and the natural man were the same thing, and then surprised me by saying the natural man wants to be alone and do good without God's help. I joyfully affirmed her words and asked how she learned this as nearly all of the many with whom I discuss the natural man have said the flesh wants to do bad things. She disagreed with them. I told her that it took me years, some significant frustration, and finally honesty about my confusion before I noticed the scriptures teach what she said:  the flesh longs to achieve good. She said she didn’t read it in a book or learn it on her mission. She just knew it.

What is corrupt about the human heart?

I asked her to read Jeremiah 17:9 to me. 

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”       -Jeremiah 17:9

She did and agreed fully with it even though it was new to her. I then told her I had memorized this verse in college as a new Christian, later memorized the context, and in reading it much over the years was blind to what the context said about the meaning of the deceitfulness of the human heart. 

I asked her to read verses 5-9 to me and tell me what the wickedness of the heart concerns.

“Thus says the LORD,

"Cursed is the man who trusts in man,

And makes flesh his strength,

whose heart turns away from the LORD.

For he will be like a bush in the desert

And will not see when prosperity comes,

But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,

a land of salt without inhabitant.”

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD

And whose trust is the LORD.

For he will be like a tree planted by the water,

that extends its roots by a stream

And will not fear when the heat comes;

But its leaves will be green,

And it will not be anxious in a year of drought

Nor cease to yield fruit.”

“The heart is more deceitful than all else 

And is desperately sick;

Who can understand it?”

-Jeremiah 17:5-9

She read it aloud and said the heart turns away from trusting God's strength and turns to trusting in human strength. She said the flesh is human strength. She liked Jeremiah's illustration of two plants in the desert, one nourished by a stream of water and one not. She saw trust as the issue and the object of trust as the difference. 

Is the fruit of the Spirit

 the result of possessing the Spirit or of trusting the Spirit?

I then told her the Apostle Paul says something similar to Jeremiah in one of his letters, but he leaves a word implied which Jeremiah declares openly. 

I turned to Galatians and asked her to read to me Galatians 5:16-25. She did and we discussed the word Jeremiah states and Paul implies. Does Paul imply trust or possession? Does Paul mean trusting the Spirit bears good fruit or possessing the Spirit bears good fruit? Does he mean trusting the flesh results in bad things or possessing the flesh results in bad things?

   “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

    "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.”   

 -Galatians 5:16-25

She clearly saw the difference and said Paul’s point is all about trust and not about possession. Good things come out of our lives while we trust the Spirit and bad things come out of us while we trust the flesh—while we trust human ability to do good. I said in my circles people say possessing the Spirit bears good fruit and not possessing the Spirit results in bad things, and that this way of thinking easily leads sensitive people into discouragement when they see their performance as lacking.

What does it mean that God is the source of all goodness?

The conversation then turned to comparison to Christ. She said we should always make moral comparisons to Christ and never to other people. We discussed how this changes our view of ourselves and others—we identify with people rather than against them. We realize we all are together in the same boat as failures. I asked if thinking about Christ brought anything else to mind about what Christ did. She said that God revealed his love by sending Christ to die on the cross. She said that Christ’s death took care of all her sin, shame and guilt. We discussed the power of remembering to see a person as a fully valuable person; remembering to make comparison to Christ; and remembering that Christ died to take care of all sin. We discussed our practical experience of self-condemning thoughts and bad reactions toward others.

What does it mean that God is the source of all goodness?

 We then discussed how God is the source of all goodness and how we have no ability to be a source of goodness. As the sun is the source of all light shining from it and the moon, so God is the source of all spiritual light shining from Him and from all of us. We bear God’s image but not his reality. We are image-bearers who receive God’s goodness and overflow with it to others, while we are in our proper place of focus on his goodness. We are receivers and not achievers of the goodness we sense we need. 

The surprise of being a co-lover with God

 Then we talked about the nature of love and how our sense of love can mislead us. Since it is good to love we think we can love directly. Yet we often fail to love. Why? The surprise is that God calls us to love indirectly, to co-love with him. I do this by seeing him love a person. And while I see him loving the person his love overflows from my heart toward that person. 

At some point Bethany's eyes filled with tears. I gave her The Spirit is Moving and Thankfulness and Confession, urging her to begin thanking the Father for what Christ had done for her. She asked me for the Jeremiah reference. I gave her my card and wrote the Jeremiah and Galatians references. I urged her to get these things deep in her heart as many people are struggling in life and need to hear this message from her because they are confused about trying and about the flesh as well as forgetting to make comparison to Christ. I said all this is a heavy load for them. 

She said she is on campus only on Wednesdays for an LDS Institute class. I told her that was my day on campus to give away free books to students. I urged her to stop at the table on Wednesday for a free copy of Frankl's book.

 _____________________________

On Wednesday September 23, while I was at USU with the free book table, Bethany came to Oasis to talk. I wasn’t there and she wrote the following note for me.

 “I wanted to thank you for giving me a new perspective on Christ’s atonement. I really liked our conversation a few weeks ago. I hope you have a fantastic day!

-Bethany”

 

CAN YOU DRIFT AWAY FROM GRACE? SOME SURPRISES

"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." -Hebrews 2:1

I have had true Christians tell me that reading the Letter to the Hebrews troubles them. Some have called it scary. If I remember correctly, some have even admitted to avoiding it. Have you ever had these thoughts or heard others say such things? If the gospel is so beautiful and so powerful, then why do true Christians have this response to reading this inspired letter? I have heard this about the letter of First John as well.

Who is the Audience?

The Letter to the Hebrews was written to the community of Jewish Christians living around Jerusalem between Pentecost and the destruction of the Jewish temple and its rituals. That community had been previously under the law of Moses for centuries and had recently been freed by Jesus to live in unmerited favor. They were surrounded by pressure to go back to the old ways. 

Which Message is Superior?

The message of Jesus is about His faithfulness and His work of "putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." The message given by angels to Moses at Mt Sinai was of personal faithfulness and the work of the temple system to take away sin. Jesus sits in authority and the angels are merely servants. Therefore since Jesus is greater, His message overrides the old message. 

Is it Good to Get Confused about the Two Messages?

It is never good to be confused about anything, but since Satan is the author of confusion, it certainly is possible to get muddleheaded about what is good. It is easy to get fooled about how law and gospel fit together. It would have been especially easy if one lived in the neighborhood of the beautiful Jewish Temple with its old, respected, and inspired system of sacrifices and rituals.

Confusion in the Word Must

The little word must has two general senses. It is commonly used as some form of threat. "You must give me your money or I will shoot you." "You must clean your plate or you won't get ice cream." "You must give that back because I had it first." "You must change or I won't forgive you." Do you hear the threat in these statements. Another common meaning, that isn't so noticeable, relates to what is natural, fitting, or proper. "You must get here before noon if you want to see your grandmother, as her ride to the airport leaves at noon." There is no threat in this kind of statement. It is simply a declaration of how consequences naturally follow actions. The latter is the true sense in our verse. Those who unwittingly read this verse in the threat sense, can easily turn this verse into a command from God. But this verse is simply helping to set the stage for the first command (3:1). That command naturally follows chapters one and two.

Is it Possible to Drift Away?

 Is it possible to drift away? How confident are of your answer? Let me paraphrase this verse, but set it in the negative for emphasis and clarity. "In light of the above reasons, it is not good, fitting or right for us to not give more careful attention to the message of Jesus, that He has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, lest we drift away." I suggest that drifting away is a far greater and more common problem than we think. Have you ever wondered if you or someone else might be guilty of drifting away? Have you ever thought that you need to be careful to not drift away? Have you ever thought that you can't drift away? The surprise is that it is not something that we do but rather something that happens to us naturally.  

Notice that the verse states that drifting away is the fruit of neglecting to do something else. That something is to give careful attention to the message of grace. In short, drifting away is the natural consequence of not considering the work of Christ. To be even more blunt, you do drift away when you don't consider grace. I drift away often every day. I don't intend to drift away, but it is the natural result of forgetting to see in the moment through the lens of grace. It takes practice to notice that it is this simple.

Here are some examples. When a preacher declares that people must be careful to not drift away, he has already drifted away himself, because he has unwittingly not considered that it is Jesus' job to keep a person from drifting away. When you sin in any way, you have already drifted away from grace. When you are looking at life through the telescope of grace, it is impossible for you to sin. You can't keep yourself from sinning or drifting away, but God can—WHILE you are considering grace properly.

Where Does Salvation Fit?

Salvation is like marriage. Marriage doesn't end with the ceremony; it begins there. In the same way salvation is a new kind of life, relationship, or identity with God—one of unmerited favor. It begins in the moment of conversion and continues on forever. It begins when one for the first time finds satisfaction in God's goodness or faithfulness without holding in reserve any satisfaction in one's own faithfulness. We are all born with our faithfulness in the equation of life. After conversion, only Jesus' faithfulness is in the equation. Thus Christianity is life in the faithfulness of Christ free from the pressure of pretended personal faithfulness. No one is faithful when compared to Christ, so let's get over ourselves. 

Since all Christians have their identity purely in Christ's faithfulness, it is impossible to drift away from one's own identity in grace. Period. If you think otherwise then you have been tricked into thinking that there is some merited favor in the Christian life. It is Jesus' job to keep you from drifting away and, unlike you, He handles His job perfectly. Satan has created many counterfeits and many of God's dear children have been tricked to see counterfeits where there is pure grace. I am currently preaching through Hebrews and in my first sermon declared that I plan to shine the bright light of the gospel on every scary verse so as to reveal the glory of the cross and remove all scariness for the Christian, all the while maintaining that God is a consuming fire. This includes chapters 3, 4, 10, 12, and especially 6:4-6. An article on the last one is almost finished and should appear here soon. Counterfeits, counterfeits, counterfeits. Let's put the blame where it belongs: on us for being fooled by the counterfeits. I have much experience here. Do you?

Whose Faithfulness Do You Consider?

Let's get real. Whose faithfulness are you considering right now? It is never good to be unfaithful. Therefore only perfect faithfulness is good. It is not good to have expectations that are not good. Therefore goodness includes expectation of perfect faithfulness. This makes it simple to realize that 1) only God's faithfulness counts, and 2) it is a deception to expect flawed human faithfulness to count. But the spiritual battle rages—the flesh versus the spirit—flawed human faithfulness versus God's faithfulness—trying to do good versus success at doing good. In the heat of the moment the pressure is on to drift from a vision of perfect faithfulness into Satan's counterfeit of flawed human faithfulness. We need to retrain our minds to what is good if we are to stand firm in God's faithfulness and not drift away into valuing counterfeit faithfulness. If you want to prepare your mind for battle, I would suggest frequent prayer of thankfulness for what God declares to be good, for example:

"Father in heaven, thank you for calling me to always value what is good. Thank you for making your faithfulness is to be all my satisfaction even when I fail or other people fail. Thank you for calling me to remember your faithfulness and to remind others of your faithfulness. Thank you for making Christianity to be the community of satisfaction in your goodness. Thank you that it is your job to keep me from drifting away. Thank you that your Son fully put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and that he did this without my help. Thank you for making sin to be overcome easily by a vision that only perfect faithfulness counts. Thank you for making my job to be simple—to consider your Son's faithfulness at the cross as the only hope for anyone in any situation."   

Consider Jesus the high priest of our confession, that "He has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."

LEGALISM: HOW TO DO IT WELL

The Blessing of Life in a Culture of Pure Legalism

I have had the privilege of having significant relationships with Christians from various traditions. Because of our Mormon culture, Christians here are sensitive to the issue of legalism and discuss it often. Mormons specialize in legalism because their religion is all about legalism from beginning to end. They talk much about the importance of doing good things. We agree with them that it is good to do good things. But when we Christians explain how grace is unmerited favor, they object and declare that obedience to commandments is necessary to please God and be accepted by Him. One can't get forgiveness free they tell us because that would make people lazy. They do use the word grace and are doing so more and more, but don't be fooled. If you listen closely and ask questions you will discover that what they mean by grace is usually some form of kind or gentle legalism—another chance to keep the rules. Grace doesn't free you from the rules, but gives you help and more time to keep them. Rules must eventually be kept. So living in this overwhelmingly dominant culture of Mormonism of pure legalism forces us to stay alert. Without alertness here one can easily get sucked into the lies of legalism.

What is legalism?

This simple question is not simple to answer. I have thought about it for many years and been dissatisfied with my own study, with my own understanding, and with what I have heard others say or write about it. A few years ago I sought to avoid using the word because, even here, we tend to be sensitive to legalism in other people but not in ourselves. Why is it that when we Christians use the word legalism we are almost always pointing the finger at other people and not at ourselves—at other denominations and not at our own? Why do I never point the finger at myself and say something like the following? "Wow, I am really having legalistic thoughts today." Do you notice any legalism in others? Some likely notice it in you. When is the last time you noticed it in yourself? Isn't this an interesting dilemma?

The Key Word: Manageable

Just recently a word or thought came to me that may be helpful: manageable. Mormonism is all about making God's expectations manageable. Does God really want us Christians to do that? To think or speak of God's law or commandments in a manageable way is legalism. To think or speak of my (or your) obedience in a manageable way is legalism. Now that seems to have enough clarity so that I can begin to notice legalism in myself and you can notice it in yourself. Am I making the law, commandments, or my obedience manageable? We all have an intuitive sense about this and are somewhat sensitive to it in other people, but need clear thinking to see it in ourselves. 

Manageability is like judgmentalism. Hundreds of Mormons have told me that what they really don't like about other Mormons is that they are so judgmental. In each conversation I affirmed the evil of judgmentalism and then gently asked if it was easy for the person to resist judging judgmental people. Every time the person responded in embarrassment admitting to being just like the people being criticized. It is good to judge if we judge by perfection as God does, otherwise we are judging unrighteously. What authority do we have to do that? Righteous judgment—judgment by the standard of perfection—reveals that we are all in the same boat together as failures and makes it impossible to look down on another person—truly impossible. When we judge by some lowered manageable standards, we have entered the arena of competition where some of us succeed and others fail. Judgmentalism then is unavoidable. You may think highly of yourself that you are able to have manageable standards without being judgmental, but by doing so you are just proving my point that you think that you can succeed where others fail. You are fooling yourself. In the same way, God's law and obedience to God are good. Could it be that legalism is simply the natural result of shrinking either of these in such a way as to make them manageable? 

Isaiah's Experience

Notice the following beautiful verse in a Messianic chapter in the Gospel of Isaiah. I call it the Gospel of Isaiah because it is filled with grace—unmerited favor poured out on God's people—righteousness as a gift—God's delight in His Son and in His people.

"The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake; He will exalt the law and make it glorious." -Isaiah 42:21

Does this verse convey a sense of awe and glory, or of manageability? Exaltation is the opposite of manageability. God can manage the exaltation of the law, where as no flawed human can. Read Isaiah 6:1-7 and notice his experience.

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train^a of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

 

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Whatever Isaiah saw crushed his pride. He realized and cried out that he was a spiritually ruined man. What he saw was so big that it made him realize that all the people of Israel were spiritually ruined, too. The result was that Isaiah was spiritually healed and transformed. What did he see? I suggest that he saw the perfect righteousness of God and the surprise of unmerited favor that flows from that righteousness. In John 12:38-41, the Apostle John declares that what Isaiah saw in his vision was Isaiah chapter 53—"by his knowledge the righteous servant will make many righteous, for he will bear their iniquities." I have been greatly blessed to notice this connection and meditate much on it. See if such meditation might bless you.

How to do Legalism Well

I would like to give a humorous exhortation of how to do legalism well. If you live in Mormon culture you likely will hear an echo of this culture. That is the point. Manageability is the name of the game in Mormonism. Satan is alive and well and seeking to get us Christians to believe his lie and to think like Mormons, who are expert legalists or managers of God's expectations. They use religious words with unbiblical definitions in an attractive and persuasive way. Thus in the following, most religious words will be used with enticing Mormon definitions: worldliness, godliness, flesh, walking in the Spirit, laziness, obedience, and more. Remember that Satan masquerades as an angel of light and so his advice will be subtle counterfeits of truth. Here is my version of some of his advice to Christians as to how to obey God. See if you can detect the lies in the words and how manageability is ever present. Especially deceitful is the word flesh. Let's learn to laugh at ourselves in our failures so that we might better notice when we have bought into the lie. So here goes. What follows is Satan's advice for how to obey God.

Satan says:

• The first step in obedience to God is to realize that obedience is very important and that it is wrong and sinful to not obey God. 
• Second, it is important to realize that there are two serious errors to avoid in seeking to obey God. Just as one can go in the ditches on either the left or right side of the road when driving, so it is possible to be a lazy Christian or a legalist. Laziness is obvious. There are a lot of people who don't want to take seriously living the Christian life well—growing in the lord and living a holy life. This is a big problem, but the other problem can sneak up on a person who is taking obedience seriously. In seeking to avoid laziness it is possible to over correct and end up off the other side of the road in the ditch of legalism. Legalism is about using the law in a wrong way. The law is good but some people get way too pushy with it. That is legalism. So be careful to avoid being lazy, but also avoid being too pushy with the law.  
• Third, let's clarify and solidify our understanding. Make no mistake: God wants us to do good to our families, fellow saints, and unsaved neighbors. The Good Samaritan was one of Jesus' most popular parables. That Samaritan went out of his way to help a man who likely hated Samaritans. Use this parable as a reminder that no one is too bad for you to help. So be a good Samaritan to the people in your life. As you go through your days visualize others as hurt and in the ditch and in need of some kind of compassion from you.
• Fourth, you likely already notice that we all sometimes forget to do good and fail. It is important to not condemn yourself for that. Remember that Jesus is everything you need. And as long as you aren't a lazy Christian, you can look at your past and see that you have come a long way. That should be a big comfort. When you fail, thank God for Jesus. Remember that He doesn't expect for you to be perfect in your obedience but only  to make progress in becoming a more obedient Christian day by day.
• Fifth, keep in mind that the key to winning the spiritual battle is to know your enemy. It may be that the flesh is the greatest enemy in the Christian life. The flesh is your weakness and tendency to sin. So watch out for those in every situation. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Don't let your weaknesses and sins rule you. 
• Sixth, another enemy to watch out for is worldliness. This is a deceitful trap. Many men get trapped in watching too much sports and some women get trapped in following the latest fashions. Many young people get hooked on cell phones. These are just three obvious examples, but there are many more. Use self-control or you will find yourself getting pulled into sins of various kinds. There are many ways to sin; so be alert for temptation.
• Seventh, the third thing to watch our for is ungodliness. We can approach this topic from a positive direction. Live a godly life and ungodliness will not be a problem for you. Choose to fill your life with prayer, Bible reading, evangelism, helping the poor, and visiting the shut-ins in your church. These days there are so many children from broken homes. Seek to speak blessing to those people at church because they have it real rough. All these things are good and so when you focus on them you won't have time for ungodly things like greed, selfishness, anger, laziness, and more.
• Eighth, remember that you are a new creation in Christ. This means that you have a new nature and thus sin can now really be a thing of the past for you. The Holy Spirit has power. Don't get tricked into thinking that the Spirit isn't strong enough to help you resist sin. 
• Ninth, remember that you are not a lone-ranger Christian. You are part of God's people. Therefore apply all the above principles to the Christians you know. Remind them of these principles and exhort them to apply them.  
• Last, walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. The Spirit always leads you to its fruit: love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, etc. The Spirit never points you to immorality, impurity, envy, idolatry, strife, anger, drunkenness, and such like. The flesh does that. Keep these two lists in mind as you seek to be led by the Spirit. The Spirit will never lead you to sin.
• Now you are ready to obey God. The sky is the limit when you have the Spirit to empower you to do God's will.

Legalism is seeing God's expectations—His commandments and our obedience—in some manageable form. God always expects perfection and only Jesus can manage perfect expectations. This applies when thinking of Christians and non-Christians. 

SPIRIT VERSUS FLESH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

"O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes on on you." -2Chronicles 20:12

Jehoshaphat, King of Judah (circa 850BC), was one of the high points in the Old Testament. This was his prayer before his people when he was informed that three armies were together approaching to war against him. He knew both that God was strong and compassionate, and that he and his people were helpless. God answered by immediately inspiring a prophet in the crowd to declare, 

The Object of Faith Fit for the Helpless

"Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, because the battle is not yours but God's. Tomorrow go down against them...you need not fight in this battle, station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem." -verses 14-16

The king and all the people then fell down and worshiped the Lord. Early the next morning the king and all the people went out of the safety of the city to the wilderness. The king then told the people to trust in the Lord. They all took counsel and and then the king appointed the singers to lead their peaceful march toward the approaching armies. 

"Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting." -verse 21

As they sang and marched the Lord threw the enemy armies into confusion and those armies destroyed each other. The singing army collected the spoils from the lifeless enemy and sang in joy on their march back to Jerusalem. God's purpose for setting Israel in the center of the nations is then stated as the conclusion,

"And the dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel." -verse 29

The Meaning of the Flesh/Spirit Conflict

Flesh versus spirit is the conflict between human strength and wisdom one one side, and God's strength and wisdom on the other. Read the Old Testament with this in view and you may be surprised at its commonness and clarity. Notice how the words flesh or spirit occasionally are even explicit. This conflict is not directly about sinning but rather about the focus of what one trusts in the moment. Trusting in human strength and wisdom bears the ugly fruit of sinfulness described in the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21. Realizing one's helplessness and then trusting in God's provision (His strength and wisdom) bears the beautiful fruit listed in Galatians 5:22-23.

Let's remember Jehoshaphat's experience so that when we are being threatened or mistreated, we also will see our helplessness and set our eye on the Father who has made us to be more than conquerors through him who loves us, no matter what comes our way.