Wednesday, March 12, 2025
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:19-25
Unholy Discontent
Yesterday we talked about Jesus in the temple, clearing it out because it was being used in such a way that did not bring honor, glory, and proper worship to the holy God that resided there. This was holy discontent because they were desecrating the temple, and he could not ignore it.
As followers of Jesus our bodies are a temple, and he is in us. We need to always keep our bodies (heart and mind also) free from anything that would not bring glory to God. We worship him with our whole lives and if we are allowing those things in our bodies we cannot worship him properly. When unresolved anger leads us to sin then that is unholy discontent. It is not about justice and righteousness or making sure that God gets the glory. It is about our flesh and losing control.
The only way we can keep from falling into unholy discontent is to be completely immersed in him. We will still get angry but if we are in him and he is in us, it goes right to him, surrendered in prayer. As soon as it creeps up – pray for him to take every thought captive.
There is an older praise and worship song that is making the rounds again. Some of the words are:
This is the air I breathe…
Your holy presence living in me…
This is my daily bread…
Your very word spoken to me…
I’m desperate for you…
I’m lost without you…
As a follower of Jesus walking with him looks like breathing him in, going to him alone for living water and daily bread, and realizing how very desperate and lost we are without him. Abiding in him. When we turn to the desires of our flesh to numb the pain and silence anger, we end up pushing it down and we pack more and more on top until we end expressing our anger in the wrong way which becomes unholy discontent. Anger takes a seat deep in our hearts and eats its way out, destroying us from the inside out. When we are acting out in anger we cannot have proper worship for God, nor can we bear fruit.
Abiding in him helps to keep us from turning to wrong things when we have emotions we don’t know what to do with or we don’t want to feel. When we don’t take it to Jesus, we risk letting it lead us into sin. We mask them with wrong things that take the pain and anger away for a minute but in the end, it only adds to it and makes it worse, leading to possible addiction, destruction of relationships, debt, job loss, etc.
