Spirit or Flesh

Spirit or Flesh

When I read the topic sheet for this week’s sermon — Spirit of Flesh — I thought about something I used to do, not so long ago. I am not proud of it, because it doesn’t make any sense, but because I want to be honest, I will tell you about it.

As someone with diabetes, I know it is a dangerous disease. My great-grandfather lost a leg to it. My mother was what they call a “brittle” diabetic. Her blood sugar reading would go from below 100 to 400 or 500, sometimes in a single day.

So, I went to the endocrinologist every six months for a check-up. But after I left the doctor’s office, my first stop was the donut shop, where I treated myself to a Boston Creme donut. Covered with chocolate frosting, it is filled with sweet cream. Delicious, but not what I should be eating. So why did I do it? 

Because I resent having this disease and that there is no magic pill to make it go away.  So, like a child who sticks out his tongue when the teacher’s back is turned, I rebelled in a way that will hurt me, and by extension, those who love me.

This is what Paul is speaking about in the 8th chapter of Romans — doing the right thing even when you don’t want to. It isn’t easy to do the right thing, because the reward for doing it is not available immediately. God doesn’t hand out gold stars or trophies for doing the right thing. I have to have faith that if I do the right thing in this life, I will be rewarded in the next.

How do I do that? How do I resist the chocolate donut of sin?

How do I do that? How do I resist the chocolate donut of sin? In many cases, it is tasty and I can rationalize that if I swallow it now, I will do better tomorrow. 

Paul says I have to change my mindset. “Think of the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” How do I do that? First I have to want it. If I think of the things of heaven and the way of Jesus as something I ought to do, instead of something I want to do, I probably won’t succeed. I need to want to be a better person, to live in a spiritual way and not be caught up in things of the world.

Something that might make it easier: In his book, “Atomic Habits, An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones ,”  James Clear says that associating with people who have the habits you want make it more likely that you’ll pick them up, too. But if I stick with the people who don’t have faith, who don’t treat other people with kindness and don’t share the bounty God has given us with those in need, I am going to slip into their way of life.

It is important that I don’t, because as Paul says “People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net or birds in a trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.” We are that situation now, with a virus that spreads silently and kills the most vulnerable among us. If I was planning on another 10 or 15 years to enjoy this earthly life and I get COVID-19, what then? I might recover, but as a 70-year-old diabetic, the odds are against me. 

Another part of the sermon deals with being a missionary. I probably wouldn’t pass the physical to go on a missionary journey; they need young folks who have the stamina and the health to go to places where things are not as clean and comfortable as they are in the U.S.

Years ago, I interviewed a Christian missionary couple who had traveled to Muslim countries. Their strategy was not to show up and tell the people in those countries that what they were believing was wrong. No, they showed up and began to do things that helped the local people, like building schools and medical facilities. They did good things, then waited for the people in those countries to ask why they were doing them. Then they had an opening to describe their faith.

But just because I can’t travel to foreign countries doesn’t mean that I can’t be a missionary. If I do what Christians ought to do, to act with kindness and generosity, then someone might ask why I am being so nice. And I might be the only Christian that some people have ever met, so I need to spread the message that there is a better way, without trying to force it on those who have never heard it before. I pray that I will always be a good example to the people I meet.