Justifiable Homicide

In the criminal justice world, there are times when homicide is a non-punishable offense.  Say for instance, if your life is in imminent danger and you protect yourself.  The legal dictionary defines justifiable homicide as: "a killing without evil or criminal intent, for which there can be no blame, such as self-defense to protect oneself or to protect another, or the shooting by a law enforcement officer in fulfilling his/her duties" (The People's Law Dictionary. S.v. "Justifiable homicide." Retrieved 9/9/2013 from http://legaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Justifiable+homicide).

I submit to you today that there is a justifiable homicide that must take place each and everyday in the life of the believer.  Galatians 5:24 says this: "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."  The verb is in the aorist tense which denotes a once and for all action.  Think of the imagery here.  Think of how painful a crucifixion is.  Now, think of how difficult it is for us as Christians to walk the narrow path, the sacrifices that we must make, the things that we are to separate ourselves from.   

So, why does this once and for all action not result in instant perfection?  I mean, if we have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, why is it that the flesh continues to operate?  The Romans designed crucifixion to induce maximum pain and slow death.  It was not intended for one to die instantly, but to drag the process of death out.  Many hung on crosses for days before finally succumbing to death.  So, while the flesh has been crucified, it is stubborn and does not die easily!  That's the most frustrating thing about trying to live a holy life but it is also a reminder that the one Who began the good work will also bring it to completion.

Because the flesh is slow to die and because sin is constantly trying to find a breach in the armor, this is something that we must do every day.  We must put the flesh on the cross each and every day that we wake up.  It is justifiable homicide because the flesh is set against the Spirit and is therefore in direct contradiction with God.  The flesh and the carnal mindset is set on death and therefore we must crucify it before it kills us!  If we follow the passions and desires of the flesh which only seeks to gratify itself, we will eventually be led to destruction.  We are told by Jesus that we must pick our cross up every day (Luke 9:23).  Although we are created in God's image, sin has distorted the image and the flesh is in constant rebellion against the Living God.

Don't take this as some sort of legalism or works based religiosity.  The flesh does not always, as we have been conditioned to think, have to do with sex.  We might have a desire to do harm to our neighbor or to lie to stay out of trouble, or share the latest gossip...the word flesh is not always pertaining to sex.  Passions and desires are simply strong emotions and  depending on the motivation for those emotions, they can be negative or positive.  Here, we are talking in the negative sense because it is the flesh or the sinful nature that creates these passions.  If God is the motivating force behind a passion or a desire, then it is by default positive because God is always good and God cannot tempt us to sin (James 1:13). 

So, how do I put the flesh on the cross every day?  How difficult will it be?  Well, that depends on who is doing the crucifying.  If I try to do it in my own strength, it will never happen.  Although the verb is in the active voice, we cannot do this alone.  The active voice means that it is an action that is completed by the subject so we must take the initiative to carry the act of crucifying the flesh out but the true renewal comes from God's Spirit.  We crucify the flesh by "walking by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16).  Walking simply means the way that we live our life.  We are to live life submitted to the Holy Spirit and walk according to His guidance.  When we do that, the Holy Spirit is able to steer us away from sin, away from danger and keep us from gratifying the desires of the flesh.  The verb walk in verse 16 is active but it is also imperative!  We MUST walk by the Spirit if we have any hope of crucifying the flesh.  We have to live in submission to the Spirit at all times.  Will we mess it up at times?  Yes, but we have to be active participant in walking by the Spirit.

Let me share something with you about the flesh, it will not die as long as we keep it on life support.  As long as we throw the flesh a bone every now and then, it will remain content and exert as much influence as we allow.  We feed our desires through what we consume visually and audibly and the temptation that we give in to.  When the Holy Spirit is speaking, don't shut Him out!  When there is something that you know is arousing or stimulating to the flesh, remove it or remove yourself.  My prayer is that we all would become increasingly obedient and submissive to the Holy Ghost.  Grace and Peace my brothers and sisters, in Jesus name!