2. THE
WAY OF THE FLESH
The other way of life is the way of
the flesh, the wide gate and the broad way that leads to destruction, and there
are many who go in by it, because everyone can choose to walk according to the
imagination of his/her own heart and do what seems right in his/her own eyes.
It is the way of worldly human wisdom. It is the bad tree which bears evil
fruit, and cannot bear good fruit. It is the way one has to fend for
himself/herself just as when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and when Israel
rejected the Lord as King.
This way of life came into
existence through the rebellion of Lucifer. He was created perfect in his ways
from the day he was created, until iniquity was found in him. By the abundance
of his trading whilst in Eden the garden of God, he became filled with violence
within and sinned. He said in his heart; “I will ascend into heaven, I will
exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God; I will also sit on the mount
of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north [where the throne of God
is]; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds [implying that his throne
was on earth, under the clouds], ‘I will be like the most High” (Ezekiel
28:12-19; Isaiah 14:12-14).
His rebellion was aborted: he was
cast as a profane thing out of the mountain [kingdom] of God. Jesus said, “I
saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke10:18).
God created Adam and Eve, and the
way of the Spirit, which is God providing for His own, was in effect. Until
Satan came along and said to Eve, “Did God really say, ‘you must not eat from
any tree in the garden?” Then Eve said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from
the tree in the garden, but God did say, ‘you must not eat fruit from the tree
that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will
die.”
“You will not surely die,” the
serpent said to Eve. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be
opened: and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw
that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also
desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to
her husband, who was with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:2-7).
By partaking of the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve attained human wisdom,
with the power to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong.
Humanity became alienated from God, and in the bygone generations He allowed
all nations to walk in their own ways (Acts14:16).
The second way of life is an
alternative way, which God allows because of His mercy and His name’s sake. It
is a lesser of two evils, just as the world is sanctioning the liberal and
widespread use of condoms, not as a means to justify loose sexual behavior, or
invalidating the law against sexual immorality we hope; but in order to help
curb the widespread of deadly venereal diseases, and unwanted pregnancies. The
lesser evil is providing an avenue [not condoning] for safe sex with the hope
that the individual will one day overcome the weakness of the flesh, and
his/her life is spared, rather having to face the greater evil of having an
epidemic which can annihilate a whole nation from the face of the earth.
In like manner the alternative way
of life is tolerated by God not as a substitute to His way of life, neither has
it invalidated the sinfulness and destructiveness of this way of life; but as
Samuel said to the children of Israel after they themselves acknowledged how
they had added to all their other sins, the evil of asking for a king, “Do not
be afraid, you have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but
serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can
do no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of
His great name the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was
pleased to make you His own” (1samuel 12:20-22).
Allowing man to follow the
alternative way, and reap the consequences of his doings, is the lesser evil
than if God had to completely forsake them.
So, the Lord’s admonition to man
is, “Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let
the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him
return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will
abundantly pardon.
For My thoughts are not your
thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts
than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:6-9).
God’s plea to man is, “As I live,
says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the
wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil way! For why
should you die: O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11).
Remember, there are no three, four, or multiple ways of life. There are only two, God’s way, the way of the Spirit, where God is in complete control: and man’s way, the way of the flesh, which is fragmented and disintegrated into multiple parts, every one doing what seems right in his/her own eyes and walking after the imagination of their own heart.
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Will we take heed?
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph






