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#87 My Life: I Hate My FleshDr. Stephen Phinney: Few times in scripture are we given permission to hate. Here is one time it benefits our growth in Christ.
Listen to the podcast version: THE FLESH | HATING OUR SELFISH DESIRESScripture calls us to reject the selfish desires of the flesh, recognizing that they wage war against the Spirit and lead to destruction.“For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh” (Galatians 5:17). The self-life thrives on pride, lust, greed, and rebellion, opposing God's righteousness at every turn. To hate the flesh is not to despise our existence, but to reject the corruption that separates us from His holiness. Paul reminds us, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature” (Colossians 3:5), affirming that surrendering to Christ requires crucifying self-centered ambitions. In dying to ourselves, we find true life—not in serving the flesh, but in walking by the Spirit, clothed in righteousness. Only by forsaking the desires of the flesh can we fully embrace the purity, freedom, and eternal life found in Christ - this requires all of us to hate our flesh. My War With My Flesh!My flesh is the greatest enemy of who I am in Christ, constantly waging war against the Spirit, mocking my pursuit of indwelling Holiness, and dragging me toward selfish desires that I long to crucify. Every sinful impulse, every prideful thought, every temptation to compromise stands in direct opposition to the righteousness I am called to walk by releasing His Life from within. “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18), and yet it remains relentless—clinging to its rebellion, fighting against surrender. But I refuse to let it define me. In Christ, I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), no longer bound to the corruption that once enslaved me. So I war against my flesh, rejecting its deceit, crucifying its desires, and pressing forward into the fullness of life that is found only in Him. My flesh will not win—Christ reigns in me. Running from Truth!I never set out to defy God; it just happened—slowly at first, like a shadow stretching longer as the sun sets. The whispers of truth still lingered in the back of my mind, but I ignored them, drowning them in reckless choices that promised fulfillment but delivered emptiness. Youth came with hunger—a hunger for pleasure, for validation, for an identity outside of what I had been taught. The world beckoned with open arms, particularly the lust for women, offering love that required nothing in return, thrills without consequence, indulgence without guilt - so I thought. So I ran toward it, convinced that liberation meant shaking off the weight of conviction, the constraints of righteousness, and the quiet pull of a God I wasn’t ready to face. At the time, I wanted to try “my way” as a source of fulfillment. What started as curiosity became captivity. Since I was a detached youth, I wanted pleasure without responsibility. Each fleeting touch, each night spent chasing the next high of affection, wove a chain around my neck that I didn’t even realize I was wearing. It was intoxicating—the rush of desire, the illusion of control—but with every conquest, the satisfaction faded faster, leaving me empty, alone, and isolated. The promises of the world rang hollow, and the deeper I fell, the louder the silence became. I had spent years rejecting the only One who truly knew me, refuting His voice with excuses, drowning His presence in rebellion. But He never left. Even in the midst of my failures, He pursued me—not with wrath, but with mercy. The turning point wasn’t dramatic; there was no lightning bolt, only a moment of sudden redemption. Overall, it was quieter, slower, more painful—the realization that what I had been running toward would never satisfy. And what I had been running from was the only thing that could heal me. Surrender wasn’t easy. The chains of my past still clung to me, reminders of choices I couldn’t undo. But grace met me where I was. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8), and that truth unraveled my shame. The struggle did not define me. Christ did. I needed to hate my flesh!"Crucifying the Flesh: Why I Needed to Hate My Fleshly Desires."From the moment mankind fell in the Garden, the flesh—our sinful nature—has been at war with the Spirit. Scripture is clear that the desires of the flesh are not merely weaknesses or personal struggles; they are enemies of God’s righteousness. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17). I needed to hate my fleshly desires because they stood in direct opposition to the life I was called to live in Christ, through His indwelling Spirit. I. The Flesh Corrupts What God Designed.God created humanity with purpose, intention, and Holiness, yet sin corrupted that design. My flesh did not simply tempt me—it sought to ontrol me. “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). Every time I indulged in selfish desires, I was feeding the very thing that was killing me spiritually. I had to hate my flesh because it was leading me away from the One who gave me life. II. The Flesh Makes War Against God.To love my fleshly desires would have been to embrace rebellion against the God I claim to serve. Paul writes, “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). The flesh deceived me into thinking I was in control, but in truth, I was enslaved—bound to cravings that never satisfied, desires that only deepened the emptiness. To break free, I had to despise what had kept me chained. III. The Call to Crucify the Flesh.Hating my fleshly desires was not about despising myself—it was about rejecting sin’s hold on me. Christ called me to “crucify” my flesh, to put it to death daily, for “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). Loving my flesh meant rejecting the cross; hating it meant embracing my true identity in Him. IV. True Freedom Comes Only Through Surrender.In the end, I learned that to hate my flesh was not just necessary—it was the key to true freedom. The world tells us that fulfilling our desires brings happiness, but Scripture reveals that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). I was never meant to be ruled by lust, pride, or selfish ambition. I was created for Holiness, for communion with God, for a life led by His Spirit, not my cravings. What did I find? A new life in Christ!Watch the video above. Hating my fleshly desires was not a burden—it was deliverance. It was the breaking of chains, the death of a false identity, the surrender that led to life. Only when I rejected my flesh did I fully embrace who I was called to be in Christ. And in that surrender, I found freedom, peace, purpose, and a passion to tell the world my story.
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