Remember playing tug-of-war when you were young? You’d line up the strongest kids on your side, then dig your heels in and pull till it hurt. I once played it in my wheelchair – my team tied the rope to my rear axle, and I hit reverse! As children, we’ve played tug-of-war at school, camps, and at family reunions. As an adult, I play it nearly every morning when I get up. And you do, too.
From the time your feet hit the floor, there are two forces wrenching you in a fierce contest of push-and-pull – the Holy Spirit pushing you onto the path of righteousness, and the flesh pulling you down the dark road of sin. Day after day, life is a constant struggle to crucify the flesh and walk in the Spirit; to starve the old and feed the new; to reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God.
Who wins? It depends on whose side you choose to be. And that can vary from day to day, for the warfare between the Spirit and the flesh is 24-hour nonstop. I deal daily with chronic pain, and there are mornings when I am so sore and stiff, I feel like giving up before the day has started. My flesh insists that I have a right to a good pity party. But that’s the time to tug against the flesh and reckon myself dead to a peevish attitude. My strength in this spiritual tug-of-war is through prayer: “Lord, I'm not going to allow my emotions to dictate the day. So ‘why are you downcast, oh my soul?’ This is the day the Lord has made, so start rejoicing. Be glad in it.”
When I pray that way; when I think and talk that way, the devil releases his grip on my flesh; that is, my sinful nature. He “drops the tug-of-war rope,” as it were, and heads in the other direction. And when I feel the strength of the Lord on my side? I am able to smile and move forward into the morning, believing the best about God’s plan for the day.
This is what it looks like to reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God. It means that before I'm out the door in the morning, I’ve chosen sides… the winning side!
When it comes to this spiritual contest, you are either on one side or the other – you're never in the middle of a tug-of-war between the Spirit and your flesh. Every day you're either following your fallen nature or believing the promises of God. And who prevails depends upon the perspective you adopt toward one side (your flesh) or the other (the Spirit dwelling within you). Every moment, each decision you make, every choice, every whim and thought is your chance to crucify the old and encourage the new. Remember, you can't be neutral or remain in the middle. You are either walking in the Spirit or you're not.
Friend, this life is so short, and the cosmic stakes are so high. Your life is a battlefield on which the mightiest forces of the universe converge daily in warfare – God is for you, and Satan is against you. Don’t think you can slack off tomorrow morning when you wake up – you will be asked to choose sides. So, let me jump in on your side of the rope with these insights. Allow me to shoulder some of your load, because when it comes to tug-of-war, we really do need each other!
