We Are Withering Grass

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(Excerpted from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 9)

"Generally, the word 'surrender' means to give up something completely, after striving to maintain possession of it.  Are you making the spiritual connection?  Our flesh keeps trying to hang onto the control of our lives, and that control can be seen every time that we fall prey to temptation.  The sin that follows the temptation is a clear indication that we are controlled in that area by our flesh.  Isaiah spoke about our flesh, spelling out the truth about it:

All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers and the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.  The grass wither, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.  (Isaiah 40: 6b-8)

Isaiah compares people who are walking in the flesh with grass and flowers.  According to the verses, our flesh is in a constant state of decline!  Not only are we physically withering and fading year by year, but our sinful flesh which desires to be in control of our whole lives, is getting worse and worse.  Our flesh, more and more, wants to be in control and make all the decisions based on what will both please and feed it.  When we walk in the flesh and under its control, a spiritual type of death begins to take place in us.  While we might be spiritually growing and our walk with God improving, our flesh is declining.  Sinful, human flesh can never be improved upon.  It has no ability to improve since it is in a constantly declining and withering.  The older you get, the more clearly you will see this truth in action."

Through the years my spiritual heart has grown stronger.  But at the same time I have discovered my sins have become more and more about my pride issues and poor attitudes.  This is my flesh.  I am growing spiritually, but my natural, ungodly, self-focused desires have become far stronger than they were 30 years ago.  My spirit is improving, but my flesh is getting worse.

While your spirit can be improved upon, your flesh can not.   By nature, it will become worse and worse, so stop trying to improve it in your own power.  Why not surrender your flesh to the Spirit and walk with Him?  Let Him be in control of your actions and responses.  Then you will begin to see great improvement in your spiritual life!