I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:21
Way back when the low-carbohydrate diet swept the country, I was enthralled. The promise of eating as much meat as I wanted appealed to me – and it worked. After a while though, I began to crave carbohydrates and so, I gave in occasionally . . . which turned into nightly. I’d do well during the day, but every night, I’d lose control, eating a ton of simple carbohydrates. I gained back the weight I’d lost, but still, I kept trying while sabotaging my efforts every night. You can’t lose weight by eating a high fat diet, while also eating a high carb diet. You can’t have it both ways.
It’s obvious with food, but I’ve tried this in other facets of life. I tried to maintain my status as a successful physician, parent, and husband, while maintaining my drug habit. Eventually, it was made clear to me that I couldn’t have both. In fact, it wasn’t until I was threatened with the loss of everything important in my life, that I became willing to part with my addiction. I had to realize that I couldn’t have both lives.
This is Paul’s message in today’s passage. In it, he described the works of the flesh: lust, sexual immorality, anger, jealousy, intoxication, and other toxic behaviors. He said that those who engaged in such behaviors would not inherit the kingdom of God. Was Paul saying that anyone who’s done those things cannot be saved? No, we’re promised that God forgives all our sins when we come to Christ. Does it mean that those who claim to be Christians while still harboring feelings of jealousy will lose their salvation? Again, no.
Paul was teaching the principle that I learned in my flawed attempts at a low-carb diet. You can’t have both lives at the same time. When we feed our flesh nature, it grows while extinguishing our spiritual lives. Do we lose our relationship with God? No, of course not. Do we paralyze ourselves spiritually when we repeatedly indulge in sin? Absolutely.
We cannot live the Spirit-filled life while indulging in drugs, pornography, greed, pride, resentments, anger, hatred, or bigotry. We try though. We live for ourselves on Saturday and then try to worship God on Sunday. Then, we wonder why our spiritual lives are so stagnant and why we can’t experience the joy, purpose, and meaning that we want.
If we desire the life we’re made for, we must recognize those things that prevent us from inheriting it. Then, we must do whatever it takes to cut them out of our lives.