Kenneth Chad RobertsOct 5, 20222 min read

A Story of Two Wolves

After coming to Christ, an old and wise Native American once described Paul’s words in Galatians 5:17 like this: I have two wolves living inside me, a good one and a bad one. They are constantly fighting and always seem to be at war. Do you know which wolf wins the fight? The one I feed the most and keep the strongest.

Galatians 5:17 says, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” There is a great war inside us between the things of God and the sins of our flesh. I appreciate how Paul says that these are opposed to one another. I have even more appreciation for how he says the desires of the flesh hinder us from the desire to serve God.

Paul does not leave us to ourselves to try to figure out what the desires of the flesh are. He actually lists them in Galatians 5:19-21. While this is not an exhaustive list, it certainly is enough for each of us to struggle with. If Satan tries to accuse you with this list, remind him of what Paul said to the Corinthian believers when he shared a similar list of sins with them. “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

If we choose to reject the desires of the flesh and keep the desires of the Spirit strong in our daily life, Paul tells us that we will produce Spiritual fruit. I believe it is this Spiritual fruit that Christ partakes of when He dines with us and fellowships with us according to Revelation 3:20. Just as Paul tells us what the works of the flesh are, he is now going to tell us in verses 22 and 23 what the fruits of the Spirit are. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” So, what are you feeding today? The desires of your flesh or the desires of the Spirit? Keep Godliness the strongest part of your daily life.

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