“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24)
The Christian life is not just a calm, steady climb upward. Scripture actually describes it more like a battle. A struggle or a daily dying, because inside every believer, there are two forces pulling in opposite directions: the flesh and the Spirit.
And that conflict doesn’t go away when you become a Christian. Instead, it becomes clearer.
Dying to the flesh is not a one-time emotional moment. It’s a lifelong process of learning to say no to what is in us that resists God, and yes to what the Spirit is doing in us. This is what makes us believers different from unbelievers.
I. The Flesh Is Not Harmless (Galatians 5:16–21)
Paul doesn’t speak lightly about the flesh. He names its works very clearly: sexual immorality, impurity, jealousy, anger, envy, drunkenness, and more.
And the uncomfortable truth is this: sin never tells the truth about itself. It always promises something; pleasure, freedom, relief…but it never actually delivers what it promises. It always takes more than it gives.
The flesh is not your friend! It is not something you can safely manage or keep under control while still feeding it on the side. Scripture goes much deeper than that. It says the flesh has to be crucified.
And by “flesh,” Paul is not just talking about the physical body. He is talking about that sinful nature inside us that wants life without God. That part of us that wants satisfaction without obedience, control without surrender.
It even shows up in religious people. You can sing worship songs, go to church, serve in ministry, and still secretly be feeding desires that pull you away from God. That’s how deceptive the flesh is.
The bible is filled with examples of men of God that fell to their flesh:
David was not a random man in Israel, he was God’s anointed king. He knew God deeply and personally and yet one evening, instead of turning away, he lingered and entertained desire. And that “small moment” became adultery, deception, and eventually murder. His story shows how the flesh doesn’t stay small: what is tolerated in the heart eventually takes shape in real life.
And then you see it even clearer in Solomon. He starts with wisdom, blessing, and favor. But over time, he begins to compromise in relationships and desires. The Bible says he loved many foreign women, and they turned his heart away from God. A man who began with such wisdom ends up divided, loses himself and his heart ends up being pulled in many directions.
That is what the flesh does. It doesn’t destroy everything in one moment, but the moment you give into it….it slowly pulls the heart away until what once felt wrong starts to feel normal.
II. The Christian Life Is a War (Galatians 5:17)
“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.”
If you feel that tension inside of you, don’t immediately assume something is wrong with your faith. In many cases, that very conflict is evidence that God is working in you. Because the unbelieving heart can sin without much struggle, but we believers knows the pain of wanting to do what is right and still feeling pulled in the wrong direction.
That’s why the Christian life is not the absence of temptation. It’s the presence of a real fight.
And the flesh speaks in a very familiar voice:
“Just this once.”
“No one will know.”
“You can deal with it later.”
“It’s not that serious.”
But sin is never honest; it always overpromises and underdelivers. It promises freedom but produces slavery, it promises relief but leaves guilt and emptiness.
Paul describes this same struggle in Romans 7: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”
That doesn’t describe someone who is spiritually dead. Dead people don’t fight!
If anything; it describes someone who is alive, aware and bold enough to battle.
So as long as there is life, there will be struggle but it’s not an excuse to make peace with sin.
Example:
There is a difference between having a same sex attraction or proudly living that lifestyle. One has taken up his/her cross and rejects acting out on those desires, meanwhile the other one has made peace with it and is living however they want.
Although the desires are the same, their judgement will be different.
III. Dying to the Flesh Is Daily (Luke 9:23)
Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
A cross was never a symbol of inspiration: It was an instrument of death.
So when Jesus talks about taking up your cross, He is talking about a daily decision to say ‘no’ to sin and say ‘yes’ to Him even when it costs you something internally. And that’s important, because some sins don’t disappear quickly. Some struggles return again and again and some temptations feel like they never fully go away.
But the call of Jesus is not occasional resistance. It is daily surrender.
When Joseph is confronted with temptation in Potiphar’s house, he doesn’t negotiate with it. He doesn’t try to manage the situation.
He runs! And even though that decision costs him in the short term, he was able to protect his integrity and his future. Sometimes obedience doesn’t look like fighting longer, obedience can also be getting out immediately.
Galatians 5:24 says: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Many of us try to keep our under control instead of putting it to death. We make compromises, leave small doors open or even subconsciously feed things we are supposed to kill. And slowly, what we feed grows stronger.
You cannot keep nourishing sin and expect it to weaken on its own.
That’s why Jesus speaks so strongly at times about cutting things off, removing what causes you to stumble. Not because He wants to harm us, but because He takes sin seriously.
So the question becomes very practical:
What are you feeding that you should actually be putting to death?
And honestly, what you don’t kill can eventually become what controls you.
IV. Victory Does Not Come Through Willpower Alone (Romans 8:12–13)
“If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Notice what Paul does not say.
He doesn’t say, “by strong willpower” or “by determination.” He says, “by the Spirit.” That means this battle is not something you can win just by trying harder.
Yes, we fight, but we fight in dependence. Romans 7 and 8 together show this tension clearly. On one hand, we are truly called to resist sin and on the other hand, we cannot do it apart from God’s power.
And that explains why sanctification sometimes feels slow. Because God is not only changing our behavior, He is also changing our dependence. Sometimes He allows us to see our weakness so clearly that we finally stop trusting ourselves.
So putting sin to death looks like this in real life:
- Repenting quickly
- Confessing honestly
- Refusing to feed temptation
- Filling your mind with Scripture
- Praying when you feel weak
- Fleeing when you need to flee
- Staying accountable
- Depending on grace.
It is active obedience empowered by the Spirit.
V. There Is Grace for Those Who Fight (Romans 8:1)
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
This is not a verse that makes sin small or excuses it. It is a verse that gives hope to sinners who are still in the fight. Because some believers get tired after struggling with the same sin for a long time. They’ve failed more times than they can count and sooner or later, they start to wonder if God is done with them.
But the gospel does not say, “Try harder so God will accept you.” The gospel says, “Christ is already enough for sinners who come to Him.”
So when you hear a message about holiness, and immediately think, “I’ve failed too much,” or “I keep falling into the same thing,” listen again: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
That doesn’t excuse sin but it gives you hope to keep coming back. Our standing before God is not built on our performance. No one stands before God by saying, “I did well enough.” We stand because of mercy. We stand because Christ died for sinners.
In Luke 15:11-24 we see in the story of the prodigal son how the son comes back broken, ashamed, and unsure. But before he can even finish explaining himself, the father runs toward him. Not because the son fixed himself but because the father is full of mercy.
That is the picture of God’s heart toward repentant sinners.
Conclusion
Dying to the flesh is painful because crucifixion is painful. There’s no way to soften that and unfortunately the flesh does not die quietly or easily. But the hope of the Christian life is not that we are strong enough. It is that Christ calls us, the Spirit empowers us, and grace restores us when we fall.
So don’t make peace with sin. Don’t slowly normalize what God calls you to put to death. And don’t give up because the battle feels long. Take up your cross daily, walk by the Spirit and fight the good fight.
And when you fall, don’t run away from God but instead run to Him. Not because sin is small, but because His mercy is greater than your failure.
Stay Blessed x
