Dr Paul Allen

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (Gal. 5:24–25) If we walk by the Spirit, if we are willing to forgo what we’ve come to rely on for comfort—and willing, for a time, to experience the discomfort that happens in the letting-go process—our cravings to indulge will diminish. The Spirit leads us out of ourselves so that we are no longer preoccupied with how we feel, what we want, and what we think we need, and as we grow, we begin to see that self-preoccupation is what imprisoned us all along. As we walk by the Spirit, we are led away from ourselves and directed toward Christ. We become increasingly preoccupied with him. In the process, we come to look more like him. We reflect not the consequences of self-indulgence but the fruit of self-control, along with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness (Gal. 5:22–23). Paul concludes ...

“How can I be sure that I have been given new, holy desires?” And this is really a question of “How can I be sure I have been born again?” Because that’s what the new birth does; it gives us these new, God-centered, Christ-exalting, Spirit-empowered desires. And the other question is “How much desire for God and victory over contrary desires — sinful desires — is realistic or normative for the Christian life?” Let’s describe how the New Testament pictures the desires of the person who has been born again and the kind of battle this introduces into the person’s life. Goodbye, Darkness Before we’re born again — and I mean born again by the Spirit of God through the word of God — the Bible describes us as natural persons, meaning that we don’t have the Holy Spirit. And therefore, we do not have the spiritual ability to see the beauty of Christ and his gospel for what they really are, or the ability to feel them for what they really are — namely, precious. First Corinthians 2:...