In our passage today the word "governed" is used to describe how the flesh rules the mind. Marrian-Webster defies governed as exercising continuous sovereign authority over, especially: to control and direct. Plainly put, our flesh nature controls our thinking. This is why in our own ability, it is impossible to change our behaviors and actions.

We must understand that the flesh goes beyond just our organic bodies that will cease to function one day. The Bible defines the flesh as our sinful nature and even declares that our flesh is full of lust. (1 John 2:16) In this condition, we are hostile to God and His law, the Bible. Most of us should be able to relate to this plight. Our experience is when that sinful nature controlled us, the things of God and His law, the Bible, we rejected, denied, and even mocked others for believing. The last part of our passage today verifies our constant struggle to change. It states that we can not even submit to God or His law when governed by the flesh. 

Before accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior, all of us were living in an unrepentant sinful state. While living in this sinful state our whole life is our soul. The soul is the immaterial and eternal part of who we are, our soul is what will continue to exists after our physical bodies cease to function. Before we surrender to Christ and accept Him as our Lord and Savior our nature, the driving force behind all we do, is that of the flesh.  The flesh nature is everything contrary to God, it is sinful and selfish. This nature controls all of our inclinations and desires, dictates our behavior, and controls our actions. Simply put, our flesh initiates the behaviors, and our soul fulfills them. 

I distinctly remember my attitudes and thought processes before fully surrendering my life to Christ. My entire mindset was the opposite of God and His Word. The worse part of it all is at that time, I thought I was a Christian and believed if I died, I would go to heaven. Yet my heart, mind, and soul were directed by my flesh, not God. The Bible tells us that God is love, but I didn't love anybody, not even myself in those days. I remember a conversation I had one day. The individual I spoke with was upset about a stranger they had seen and felt that they were unsaved and going to hell. My response was, why do you care? You don't know them. 

That attitude is so foreign to me today. When God transformed me, I went from only caring about myself to love and caring for total strangers. I am blessed to share that God has afforded me the opportunity to minister to, love on, and fellowship with untold amounts of strangers. We may have no ability to change ourselves, but God can and will transform us if we allow Him.  

This necessary transformation can only come from God, and it is not something we can manufacture. There isn't enough self-will, determination, or resolve to create the type of change necessary to affect the here-now and the hereafter. We will get into exactly how this transformation takes place and what it means for us a little later. For now, though, I want us to look at  your life.