It's Not About the Flesh

John 6:59-71- That phrase "the flesh is useless (John 6:63)" has taken on a whole new meaning as my body gets older. I am not sure I even paid much attention to the wording until the past few days. But as I progressively age (as we all do), there are more and more times that my brain really wants to do something, and my body is not inclined to cooperate. Even when coaxed into submission, my flesh often gives off an unplanned, unwanted grunt as I move it around against its will. I call it the old person grunt, and for anyone over 40 who is not in stellar fitness, I would venture to guess that your body sometime spontaneously grunts when you try to make a stressful movement as well.

I admit, at least part of this "grunt epidemic" in my body is an indictment against my own physical fitness, which could be better (thought it's not the absolute worst, and I am not that old). Then there is that other irrefutable truth: our bodies are not permanent. They are made slowly die and then decay. Anything physically living is meant to do the same. We can sometimes slow the process or make the process more pleasant and healthy. But we cannot permanently avoid the inevitable.

Pretty morbid, right? Well, only if the flesh is the thing that we are living for, or in the case of this John 6, what we are living from. Flesh does have it's purpose. It is right and proper to treat it well and to make good choices about how we use it. And there is certainly nothing wrong with the enjoying our bodies and what we put into them within the framework of God's plan and purposes for our lives (I'm not giving up cheesecake or long baths). But if we are aiming for God's eternal glory and life that extends beyond this short time on earth, we simply cannot expect a dying organism to accomplish the eternal. It takes something beyond the flesh. It takes a Spirit, God's Holy Spirit to be exact.

To put it in context, Jesus states this as a follow-up to a seemingly troublesome statement that he makes: "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood.... will live because of me (John 6:56-57)." Many people stop following Jesus because of this statement, and I can understand why. This sounds like cannibalism! Jesus flesh is important because of what it does to serve eternity, the final and greatest sacrifice for sin. But I believe what Jesus is saying here is that to serve Christ is not about physical consumption of his flesh, nor using our own flesh to try and earn that gift, but rather connecting to Christ's Spirit, which will never fade or fail.

In writing this, I'm feeling a conviction to be kinder to my flesh today, and also to put pressure where pressure is due. "It is the Spirit that gives life (John 6:62)."

Picture taken by the blogger at the recent wedding of dear friends.