A Soul at War

“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.” – 1 Peter 2:11

I was reading in 1 Peter the other day, when this verse caught my eye. There are desires of the flesh that “wage war” against our souls—they’re relentlessly hostile towards and destructive to our souls.

Well, that’s kind of alarming.

So what are these “desires of the flesh”? These sound like things we should identify, so we can avoid them, don’t you think?

1 Peter goes on to describe how to “conduct yourselves honorably” (2:12) in relation to governing authorities (2:13-17) and within your household (2:18-3:7). Then come a few verses that, based on what they’re promoting, suggest a few “desires of the flesh” to me:

-          Division (3:8)

-          Hardheartedness (3:8)

-          Apathy and hate (3:8)

-          Arrogance (3:8)

-          Getting payback (3:9)

-          Evil words (3:10)

-          Deceitfulness (3:10)

-          Sowing conflict (3:11)

That phrase, “the desires of the flesh,” also pops up in Galatians chapter 5. Paul calls on his readers not to “gratify the desires of the flesh,” because those desires are opposed to the work of the Holy Spirit (5:16-17). And unlike Peter, Paul was sure to outline exactly what he meant:

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. (5:19-21)

There’s some overlap between the two—notice especially division and sowing conflict in 1 Peter and strife, quarrels, dissensions, and factions in Galatians—but between these two letters, we get a pretty wide range of “desires of the flesh.”

Your habit of returning fire any time you feel you’ve been criticized or insulted.

That quarrel in your family or your church that you have no interest in deescalating.

Your confidence that you know better and see things more clearly than those idiots who think this or do that.

The nights out getting drunk with your buddies.

Those lustful thoughts you don’t mind indulging and the dirty websites you don’t mind visiting.

These things may seem more or less harmless. You may not have ever given a second thought to the morality of it all—why would you? It’s pretty normal behavior. And some of it you’re enjoying quite a bit!

But Peter wants us to recognize the reality: these desires of the flesh that you’re enjoying are hostile to you. They’re trying to destroy your soul. They want to sharpen your self-interest and dull your love. They aim to normalize harshness, to break habits of understanding or apologizing, and to grease the wheels of toxic cycles. They want to leave you content with your sins and disinclined to pursue transformation.

Well, what are we supposed to do about it?

1 Peter does gives us a powerful challenge in 3:8-9, but, as much as I love those verses, it’s Paul’s words that I think we need the most. How are we supposed to avoid falling into the trap of the “desires of the flesh”? He follows up his catalog of “works of the flesh” (5:19-21) with some familiar words:

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (5:22-23)

If you want to combat the desires of the flesh waging war against the soul, step one is to invite the Spirit to plant something new in you, to cultivate in your heart the antidotes to the poison apple the flesh offers.

You need reinforcements to win this war. It’s time to bring the Holy Spirit to the front line.

 Listen to this week's devotional right here!