The battle between carnality and spirituality

Have you ever watched a boxing match featuring two heavyweight contenders? It can be a nail-biting experience. From one round to the next, it may seem unclear who will be the winner, but ultimately, the champion is always the one who was fed the best and trained the hardest. That’s the one that will be the strongest and have the most endurance.

Carnality and spirituality are quite a bit like those two combatants, and the one that will win the battle between these two in our lives, is the one that we choose to feed the best and train the hardest. It’ll be the one we give more attention to. Carnality and spirituality are two distinct different types of relationships and must be recognized as so. To get a basic understanding of their vast differences, let’s consider carnality and spirituality as two types of lifestyles. They both differ regarding their involvement and methods of functioning. Carnality solely involves the desire for flesh and physical relationships. While just the opposite is true of spirituality, which is far more concerned with the human spirit or soul.

Let’s look at the word “sarkinos.” It’s the Greek word for carnal, and it means, “pertaining to the flesh or made of flesh.” It is descriptive of a person that is controlled or dominated by his or her bodily appetites. This presents a clear image of carnality. Spirituality, on the other hand, is principle-orientated and is more concerned with the servant-leadership model of God and others.

Galatians 5:14 (Amplified Bible) tells us, “For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is

fulfilled in one precept, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].’” This is where we develop the mentality and concept of the husband and wife serving each other as unto the Lord. According to Scripture, service to your spouse is service to God. Consequently, if you serve each other, it is comparable to serving the Almighty God Himself. In marriage, a husband serving his wife and a wife serving her husband are the epitome of love of romance. It’s a very good thing! But we’ll save that for another column. Let’s get back to spirituality…

The basic principle of spirituality trusts the one and true living, yet invisible God. We can’t see Him in the flesh, but we know He’s there. We walk by faith, and not by sight. God said it, we believe it and that settles it. Many unbelievers are afraid to trust in that they cannot verify with their eyesight. So, while the followers of the carnal things (worldliness) live by fearing, the followers of the things of the Spirit (God) live by hearing. So, faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. Romans 10:7 backs that up quite well.

The need to gratify the flesh is rooted in carnality. This mindset that catapulted many into an attitude of, “do what makes you happy,” disregarding everyone else (including spouses) is an ungodly approach that is tearing apart many marriages and families today.

We see it even among those who claim to be the called of Christ. Yes, we’re speaking of those who function within the “five-fold” ministry, based on Ephesians 4:11-12. Among apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds (pastors) and teachers of the gospel, there is an alarming increase of those who are falling away from God because they’ve fed their carnal selves much more than their spiritual selves. They’ve given the desires of their flesh more attention than they’ve given attention to God’s Word. Their spirit-man has become malnourished, while their sinful nature has grown stronger.

Galatians 5:16 (English Standard Version) states this: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

Regardless to what may be said among the voices in the crowd, it IS possible to live holy as God requires. It IS possible to be faithful to one person within the bounds of marriage. In and of our own flesh, it’s nearly impossible, but with God, all things are possible. Living a relationship of carnality will result in spirit-failure every time. It takes a genuine spiritual connection to Christ to maintain a holy standard of living. Just as it is in a natural fight, it takes a constant, persistent, intentional, deliberate mindset, in order to win a spiritual battle. Often, in a boxing match, you’ll hear a coach from the corner telling their contender to keep his eyes on his foe or to “keep your arms up!” The same goes for our spiritual battles. Why? Because allowing ourselves to be distracted by the things of the flesh for even a moment, is all the time that the enemy needs to knock any one of us off course.

Can one be a believer and have a carnal mind at the same time? Yes … but not for long. Eventually, they will have to make a choice (because it is indeed a CHOICE) to either live for Christ or die in sin. Carnal believers want to be associated with God while indulging in the sinful things of the world too, and it just doesn’t work like that. We must all make a choice.

If you read Revelation 3:15-16, you’ll find where Christ talked about His disgust of these type people. He says that He wishes they were either hot or cold. But because they’re lukewarm, He spits them right out of his mouth. In other words, if people are living for Christ (hot), that’s wonderful! If they’re outright sinners (cold), He can offer them salvation through His shed blood. But because they are hypocrites (lukewarm – i.e. saying they know Him, but not living according to His Word), God said they are like vomit. Wow! That certainly puts it in perspective.

Romans 8:5-7 (New International Version) explains it plain and simple: “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”

As covenant couples, we must keep alert and aware that, as the aforementioned Scripture says, our flesh is hostile toward God. It does not want to be obedient or submit to His will. Like a boxer must keep his gloves up, we must keep our spiritual guards up so that carnality doesn’t win. Our marriages are too important. Our families are too valuable. The enemy of our souls (satan) wants the roots of our marital bonds to wither and die so that they cannot reflect Christ’s love for mankind on the earth.

Carnality is a challenger, but spirituality is the champion. Let the Spirit of God arise in your life and in the life of your marriage. Always keep Him first. It’s the only way to win by TKO over the lust of the flesh.

Drs. Michael & Kendra Holmes are the senior pastors of Deliverance Revival Church in Warner Robins, the founders of Royalty Relationship Coaching, LLC, the authors of the 31-day devotional, “Cross-Fire: Igniting Passionate, Purposeful, and Powerful Relationships,” and guest hosts of the new television talk show, “The Marriage Circle Connection.” W.A.R. is an acronym for “We Are Royalty,” the official slogan of Royalty Relationship Coaching, LLC. Visit the website at www.RoyaltyRelationshipCoaching.com.

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