“Their property held them in chains...chains which shackled their courage and choked their faith and hampered their judgment and throttled their soul...If they stored up their treasure in heaven, they would not now have an enemy and a thief within their own household...They think of themselves as owners, whereas it is they rather who are owned: enslaved as they are to their own property, they are not the masters of their money but its slaves.”

These strong words from the 3rd century bishop of Carthage Cyprian highlight well the dangers of what Paul and the biblical writers call “the Flesh”.

Paul expands upon these corrupted bodily desires in Galatians 5v19-21…

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I don’t know about you but reading this list causes me to recoil a bit. It drums up images of a fundamentalist preacher slamming his fist on the pulpit while moralizing those in the pews.

Of course, this isn’t how Jesus came, and I don't think it’s the spirit Paul writes in either.

Yesterday, we explored what it looks like to be enslaved by bodily desires. In the moment, they may feel good and fulfilling but, more often than not, they leave us unsatisfied and worse off than we were before.

What does a garden of earthly desires produce? Fruit that’s quick to rot.

And in Galatians 5v16-21 I believe Paul comes not as an angry fundamentalist but an expert gardener. Here he is providing facts about what makes a garden prosper or falter. It's not a guilt trip but an honest analysis of what happens when we live for the wrong things. 

The behaviors Paul lists here hold us back from living in God’s love, the truest source of freedom. 

They are even contrasted with the products of such love, famously referred to in verses 22 and 23 as “the fruit of the Spirit.”

I don’t want to turn this series into a non-stop bash of Western civilization because, honestly, a lot of good has come out of it. Many advancements in civil rights, liberty, and culture emerged due to the freedoms of the men and women living in these countries.

But how well does this freedom, as we see it today, curb the power of the flesh?

Before going further, I feel something worth mentioning. Bodily desires are common to all of us and, in themselves, aren’t always bad.

God gave us wonderful gifts like taste buds to enjoy good food or sex drives to enjoy physical intimacy. Pleasure is one of the many blessings that God has given us and, used rightly, it’s far from negative! But like anything else they can be used in such a way as to cause serious problems.

Hence The Garden of Earthly Delights from yesterday’s post.

We must ask ourselves… if pleasure, money, or approval is calling the shots then how free are we really? Is it possible that these things which, on the surface, make us “free” or “liberated” really just enslave us to another master?

I think it goes without saying that puritanism, dogma, and traditionalism have their fair share of issues. But in our attempts to free ourselves from them have we just wound up under the thumb of our bodies and egos? 

Plenty of Western people are quite affluent, amassing more capital yet still lacking a sense of deeper satisfaction. 50% of marriages in the United States end in divorce despite our ethic of “free love”. And mental illness continues to sit at an all-time high with no signs of slowing down.

How free are we? 

What good is it to do whatever we want if the soul, the fundamental part of the human being, suffers? 

To quote David Byrne... "Well, how did I get here?"

That’s what we’ll tackle tomorrow, for now just remember that pleasure is nothing to be ashamed of. But, perhaps, it’s also good to remember these short but relevant words from Paul…

“Everything is permissible for me”- but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”- but I will not be mastered by anything.

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter

Video of the Day

Everyday we will include the short of the day, related to the topic of the newsletter. Today: Is your Freedom threatened?