The Spirit is Willing, but the Flesh is Weak

Most people seem to have lots of goals that they want to pursue, but when it comes time to actually doing them, they struggle. I’ve noticed that as I get older, I’m not able to do the same things that I did when I was in my prime. My mind still thinks of myself as being young, but my body doesn’t agree. The one goal we are all hopefully pursuing is to get to Heaven, but it’s not so easy.

We all have a struggle between doing what our spirit wants and what our body wants. We struggle between doing what is selfish and what is selfless, what is right and what is wrong, and what God wants for us vs what we want for ourselves. It can be a very hard struggle. Our struggle to choose can become even harder if we’ve given into temptation before, but it can also be made easier if we make efforts to practice self denial.

The more we do a particular behavior, the more a habit is formed to continue that behavior and the harder it is to stop doing it. While some habits are good, there are many that can be sinful as well. Just look through the Ten Commandments and we’ll find many unhealthy behaviors for each one. It’s better to look through all of the virtues and work on forming virtuous habits. It’s not easy to be virtuous, but if we constantly practice virtue, we’ll get better at it.

When we do something that our body finds pleasurable, endorphins are released and a bond is formed or strengthened. Do we want to form a bond with our phone, computer, TV, food, drugs, or alcohol or do we want to form a bond with God? If we can train our body to find pleasure in God, we will find that it’s easier to stay on the path to Heaven. Our flesh may be weak, but if we exercise our body through the direction of our spirit, we will find it easier and easier to follow the narrow way to Heaven.