A Mind Of It's Own

1 John 2; Galatians 5

Decoration Day was May 30th every year is what I remember. Then it was renamed Memorial Day somewhere along the line. Then eventually banking and businesses wanted holidays to be amongst the Monday holidays in the U.S. For a child it takes time for the purpose of a holiday to become clear.

Again in the U.S. back then the school year ran from Labor Day, the first Monday in September to Decoration Day/Memorial Day on May 30th, so it became a marker for the end of the school year. But eventually Memorial Day sunk in to me, partially because it was the only day our town with a population of less than 1000 had a parade with military marching in it, and then the final rendition of "Taps" was played by a lone bugle marking the memory of those of our military who died serving our country in war. But since the time when I finally began to understand I have continued learning more each year.

It had its beginnings after or during the war in the U. S. commonly referred to as The Civil War, States in the South formed a Confederacy to separate from the Federal government originally established for all the United States which when war broke out were called the Northern States. Men rallied to their respective States to fight for the side with the cause they supported. They mostly joined because they had a mind of their own and chose to go. When my youngest son joined the military years ago at his graduation service we had opportunity to learn more about their training. Speaking one of the Drill Instructors I learned that it usually takes three weeks for a recruit to begin to think like principled mental discipline of a Marine. Once they think like a Marine they can begin to work together as a unit, become more effective in their training. But you don't become a Marine until the thirteenth week when training is complete. But again, just to join most had a mind of their own to enter training, then eventually to be deployed to fight, and if it came to it to give the ultimate sacrifice, to die on the battlefield, or from injury from the battlefield.

As I was thinking about the flesh, as in what is said to be one of the three main areas of opposition in the life of the believer in Jesus Christ, those being the world, the flesh, and the devil, it came to me, the flesh has a mind of its own. But like those who become soldiers (sailors, Marines) in the military in some way typically do because the have a mind of their own. And there are many who die because the choice of their fighting in face of death they have that mind of their own.

Though all three, the world, the flesh, and the devil, are not mentioned together in one place in Scripture we do find the world and the flesh togeter in one place k2 John 2:15-17) and the lust of the flesh being in the world. But also of the flesh we read,

[17] For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary one to another, so that ye can not do the same things that ye would.

Galatians 5:17 GNV

It is only natural to recognize that the devil has his own mind. It is the reason he was cast out of heaven. But the world? The flesh? While we may understand that both of these are in opposition to us as believers, just like my extremely limited understanding what Memorial Day was as a child, the same is true of growing to recognize more of the nature of the world system, and in my case as I meditated on the thought of the flesh there came clarity that the flesh indeed has a very real mind of its own. It doesn't like change. It doesn't just exist and in its presence alone it presents a wall of opposition. It isn't just “there”, it has a mind of its own and is acting in direct opposition to the good the Spirit of the Living God is working to accomplish in my life as a believer.