For the next year, I’d like to focus on the concepts Mark laid out in his “New Year Reality Check” sermon, particularly the key verse of John 3:30, where John the Baptist said about Jesus, “He must become greater; I must become less.”
I imagine that it’s true for many people—at least I know it’s true for me—that the greatest obstacle to “More Jesus, Less Me” is sin. Ever since Mark began a series about the Fruit of the Spirit, I’ve been wrestling with the idea of the “sinful nature.” In Galatians 5:16, Paul writes, “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” This reminds me of Genesis 3:6, where Eve discovered that the forbidden fruit was “good for food,” “pleasing to the eye,” and “desirable for gaining wisdom.” The first two selling points for Eve are pretty high in my list of desirable traits. When food tastes good and looks good, I want it, and I usually end up wanting more—even when more might not be good for me.
That’s where I start to understand the sinful nature. The word that is translated as the phrase “sinful nature” literally means “the flesh.” The “desires of the sinful nature” are the desires of the body. Ultimately, the sinful nature is selfishness, wanting for the sole purpose of satisfying “me.”
So when we start trying to refocus our lives on having “More Jesus, Less Me,” we end up struggling with our own selfish desires. For some it’s a matter of food; for others it might be a matter of materialism, getting more stuff; for others it might be a matter of position, getting a better job or being in charge. Whatever our sinful nature, our selfish desires might be, we have to let God uproot them so that we can live by the Holy Spirit. As we begin a new year, I pray that we will encourage each other to let God make the necessary changes in our lives that we can overcome our selfish, sinful desires so that we can grow and serve God together.