Are We Carnal or Spiritual?

Are We Carnal or Spiritual?

By Andrew Murray,
Living a Prayerful Life

There is a great difference between being carnal [living after the flesh] and being spiritual. 

This fact is little understood or pondered. 


The Christian who walks in the Spirit, and has crucified the flesh, is spiritual (Galatians 5:24). 

The Christian who walks after the flesh, and wishes to please the flesh, is carnal (Romans 13:14). 


The Galatians, who had begun in the Spirit, reverted to a life in the flesh. 

Yet there were among them some spiritual members, who were able to restore the wandering with true meekness.


What a difference between the carnal and the spiritual Christian (1 Corinthians 3:1–3)! 


With the carnal Christian, there may be the appearance of virtue and zeal for God and His service, but it is for the most part a manifestation of human power. 

With the spiritual Christian, on the other hand, there is a complete submission to the leading of the Spirit, a sense of personal weakness and total dependence on the work of Christ—it is a life of abiding fellowship with Christ brought into being by the Spirit.


How important it is for us to discover and to clearly acknowledge before God whether we are spiritual or carnal. 


A minister may be very faithful in his teaching of doctrine and be enthusiastic in his service, and yet be so, for the most part, in the power of human wisdom and zeal. 

One of the signs of this is little pleasure or perseverance in fellowship with Christ through prayer. 


A love of prayer is one of the marks of the Spirit.


A tremendous change is in store for the carnal Christian who would become truly spiritual. 

At first he cannot understand what needs to change or how it will take place. 

But the more the truth dawns upon him, the more he is convinced that it is impossible unless God does the work. 

Yet to believe that God will do it requires diligent prayer. 


Meditation and a quiet, solitary place are indispensable, along with the end of all confidence in self. 

But along this road there comes the faith that God is willing, and He will do it.


How can you say to others: 

‘‘Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ’’ (1 Corinthians 3:1) unless you yourself have the experience of having passed from the one state to the other? 


But God will teach you. 

Persevere in prayer and in faith.

 


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