Feed The Spirit, Starve The Flesh

In Galatians 5:16-18, Paul reminds us, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the fl esh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” 

Now every time I read this verse, it reminds me of this famed story where it talks about a battle within everyone. The battle is between two wolves. One is the bad one that is formed by all our desires of the flesh. Then there is the good one, made up of all the goodness led by the Spirit. Which wolf wins depends on which one you feed. This sits deep within my heart because it hit me that many of my own struggles, weaknesses and accusations are caused by a lack of feeding and starving the right things within me. Because many times, I have been feeding the wrong wolf within myself, my good wolf has been fighting daily while on a malnutrition mode. Thus, the strength from the Spirit is weak and the flesh is always ahead of us. So, a question we can ask ourselves everyday is, which wolf are you feeding? Have you been neglecting the good one?

Study your wolves

Firstly, we have to look at the current state of our 2 wolves— our spirit and our flesh. How are their health stats, their sizes and what do they feed on well? More often than not, we might find our flesh being much more well-fed than our spirit because it is so easy to feed the flesh. Temptations and desires come to us in all directions and manners, it is so easy to gratify them by just clicking on something, making a quick decision or going with the flow. But feeding the Spirit is something else. It, as Paul says, “conflicts with the flesh”, which seems easier. It requires slowing down, reflections, internal wrestling and even making the harder choices to speak and act. But because it is much harder to be led by the Spirit, it delights the Lord so much more that we are set to make things right through Him. So reexamine your spirit and flesh today. And to do so, let us look at Galatians 5:22-23. It says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” If your desires are to have the qualities here as you go through life, then you know that the Holy Spirit is leading you. However, we have to be careful not to confuse our subjective feelings with the Holy Spirit’s leading. Being led by the Spirit involves 3 important things. The desire to hear God’s words, the readiness to obey Him and the sensitivity to discern between your feelings and His promptings. That is the state we would want to have for our spirit. If a part of us feels conflicted in this, then you know that the flesh is trying to tackle you. 

Good Food For The Good Wolf

So now, let’s say we know our good wolf, our spirit, is in a bad shape. Now of course, we would love to feed our spirit. But how we do it is important. If we rely on our own wisdom, we will still make wrong choices. So we cannot try to follow the Spirit by our own efforts but through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. This comes from being immersed in God’s truth so that we can build and sharpen our perspective, judgment and decision making through the guidance of His leading. You see, when we know God through His word, then can we have the spiritual know-how on handling all things, even the desires of our flesh. 

Starve The Bad Wolf

Then, Galatians 5:24 says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” This means that we also have to deal with our flesh desires decisively.

 As Colossians 3:3-8 also says, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” So ask, where and when do you tend to feed your bad wolf a lot? Is it your free time? Is it when you are at work, in a competitive state? Is it when you are frustrated with house chores? Is it when exam periods are here? Know them and starve your desires by turning away, take a step back, not acting on them, and turn back to consult God in prayers and truth. Our life is now hidden in Christ and we are not battling this alone. As you back away from these desires each time, the urges will reduce in intensity or the Lord will grant you more perseverance and wisdom to overcome it.
Gradually, as we keeping looking to God, loving Him, remembering Him, your life will start exhibiting the by-products of feeding your good wolf. That is all the goodness mentioned in the verse 22-23 earlier, the fruits of the spirit. 

A Never Ending Battle

Now, the truth is, these two wolves will never stop battling, because we humans will always have the capacity to sin. That is why we have to constantly be sober-minded and vigilant in what we feed and what we starve within us. Even if our spirit is in a good state, we are close to God today and loving people, it does not mean the bad wolf would never regain its strength to pin our faith down one day through other means of temptations and deceptions. But take heart, that we have been set free from sin’s power over us and no longer have to give in to it. Let us instead, commit our sinful tendencies to God’s control, daily “crucify” them and moment by moment, draw on the Holy Spirit’s power to overcome them. 

Brothers and sisters, as live each day controlled and guided by the Spirit. Then the words of Christ will be in your mind, the love of Christ will be behind your actions and the power of God will help you control your selfish desires. Feed your spirit today. God bless.