Hanging Lake

A fantastic hike near Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
It almost didn't look real.
15 unedited photos

The Body

The human body is the battleground of the times. God doesn’t desire the animals or the forests to be saved. He wants us to be saved. His rescuing work is intended for us. The Gospel of Christ reclaims our bodies as well as our souls.

The body is meant to display the glory of God by producing good fruit- the fruit of the spirit. For some reason, we can’t naturally produce that good fruit. The problem, is “Self.” Now, “Self” is not bad- Self is you. God loves you. What matters is the position of self. When self is seated on the throne of our lives, we are not actually in control of our own lives. We were created as servants. We will always serve something, but we have the choice of who we serve. We were never meant to rule. When self is seated in the director’s chair of our lives, we are bound by and ruled by the flesh. The flesh is that disgusting thing that produces bad fruit. Even if we want to produce good fruit, pleasing to God, we can’t do it when flesh rules.

Self on the throne is the principle of sin. It’s the position of sin, which results in sins (bad fruit). Jesus came, not to forgive us for the bad fruit being produced by our lives (sins) but to free us from the position we are bound to in the director’s chair (sin). We are set free and are able to yield over that position of rulership and authority to Jesus Christ. When we do, we begin to produce good fruit. That’s because it’s His fruit we produce, and no longer our own. That’s the only way to produce the fruit of the spirit, for Him to be ruling and reigning in our lives and being the master of our bodies. Jesus comes and circumcises our hearts, a cutting away and removal of the flesh, made manifest by the crucifixion.

Self was lord, the flesh was alive and ruling my soul, and my spirit was dead. Now, Jesus is Lord, my spirit is alive and is ruling my soul, self serves Christ, and the flesh is dead. Self is controlled and ruled by Christ. The body was designed to reveal Jesus, and now it can.

The flesh will continue to knock, beckoning and baiting us to let it return. “For old time’s sake,” it says. We must turn a deaf ear to the flesh and respond only to Jesus Christ and His Word.

In the old man, we will always fail. In Christ, we will bear fruit when we abide in Him. The only way to remain in Christ is to die daily to the old man.

A high IQ does not make one spiritual. Yieldedness does. This body belongs to Jesus Christ!