When Carnality Has Found a Way In Part 2

by Stephanie Mayberry

This is part two of a two-part post. To see Part 1, go to When Carnality has Found a Way In Part 1

Living in Strife and Division

3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1 Corinthians 3:3

The carnal person lives in strife or discord. They create conflict and cause bitter division between people. They have no concern for the things of God if it goes against their own flesh. They are driven by selfish ambition and pride.

They have no qualms about tearing down and destroying what the people of God have built up. They are prone to bickering, sowing discord, antagonizing, and quarreling. They have bitterness toward others and have no regard for the salvation of souls if they decide that those souls are not worthy of salvation. They have no concern for anyone other than themselves and it is revealed in the way they are with people. Only those that they deem worthy of salvation are ministered to. And any offense is held tightly with no real forgiveness or love.

Not Content with God’s Provision for Them

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Matthew 6:31-32

The carnal person is not content with God’s provision for them. They will complain, get angry, and be ungrateful because they don’t have what they want.  At times they will squander what God gives them and then get angry because He doesn’t replace it.

They are consumed with worry about getting the things they feel they need without giving any regard to the provision of God. Worrying about those things is something that the carnal mind does. Someone who is truly submitted to God trusts that He will provide.

Sometimes God will only give a person what they need and will withhold excess, often because once a person has those things they want, they slip fully into carnality. It is an effort for God to keep the person in line, doing what they are supposed to do.

But the carnal mind does not want to accept that. The carnal mind wants what it wants and doesn’t care what God desires for them. They are all about themselves.

Selfish and Self Absorbed

The carnal mind is selfish, self-absorbed, prideful, and arrogant. They may attempt to act like they are selfless and humble, but the moment they are pressed, it all spills out. When they don’t get their way or when they feel that God isn’t giving them what they deserve, they begin to turn.

The carnal person is truly all about themselves. They want what they want and everything has to be their way. If it isn’t they storm off and pout, often psychologically punishing those that they feel have wronged them.

They are particularly harsh to those who cause them to feel convicted or spiritually immature.

Reviler

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 3:2-7

A reviler is someone who criticizes in an abusive or angrily insulting manner. They may do it to the person’s face or they may talk to someone else about them and speak angrily and abusive. Either way, that is purely carnal.

Having that much hate for a person, a soul, is toxic, especially if that person is trying to walk with God, walk in a way that is right and holy.

The carnal mind will accuse them of not being sincere and claim all manner of problems with them in an effort to justify their hate and distaste for them.

Unloving

If a man says, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1 John 4:20

The carnal mind is not truly loving. It may show a type of love, but that love is conditional and only for certain people which is not reflective of the love that God calls us to. Scripture tells us that if we do not love our brother then we do not love God. 1 John 4:8 tells us that if a person does not love then they do not know God.

This shows that the carnal mind is far from God and not submitted to Him. We are called to love others selflessly. But the carnal mind is all about self and only have love for those they select.

Irreconcilable

A person whose beliefs and actions are not compatible with someone who walks with God is said to be irreconcilable and that is exactly what a carnal person is. Just the fact that they are carnal, living to please the flesh removes them from God and shows who and what they are.

Instability

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
James 1:8

A person who has one foot in the world and the other walking with God is not walking with God. The Bible calls them unstable and double-minded. This is much more telling than you might realize. Look at the people who are carnal and you will see that they tend to be mentally unstable, and prone to depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. Now this is not to say being carnal caused it, but those things can certainly happen when you are not walking with God and making a conscious choice to have Him in your life and walk in His ways.

That lack of the Holy Spirit, lack of a moral compass, lack of love and guidance in your life leaves you to rely on your own ideas and when you are thinking through your flesh, your decisions will not be Godly.

No Reflection of the Fruits of the Spirit

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of the spirit is given to us so that we can know those who walk with God. The carnal person does not reflect the fruit of the spirit. They may show one or two, but even then it is usually not consistent.

If you really want to see just how carnal someone is, examine their fruit. Look for:

• Love (unconditional to everyone)
• Joy (in any situation)
• Peace (complete trust in God)
• Longsuffering (patience and does not hold grudges)
• Gentleness (not prone to angry outbursts or condemnation)
• Goodness (grateful, kind, encouraging)
• Faith (believing that God will always provide)
• Meekness (knows who and what they are in relation to God)
• Temperance (self control)

Examine your fruit. What do you see?

You Can Still Come Out of the World

If you are of the world but find it leaves you unsatisfied and you want a true walk with God, it is possible to achieve.

But you are going to have to do the work.

You are going to have to crucify the flesh.

You are going to have to stop putting yourself first and put God first. Take time every single day to study His word and pray.

Find a spirit-filled body of believers who have both spirit and truth, teach the Holy Ghost and Torah – and who aren’t afraid to teach the hard stuff.

If you can’t be corrected you can’t grow. If you have to put yourself first, you can’t grow. If everything has to be your way, you can’t grow. You need to put those things aside and make the decision to grow in God.

If you are sincere, He will give you a new heart. He will help you crucify that flesh. He will help you walk in His ways, reflecting Him everywhere you go. All you have to do is ask and be willing to allow Him to change you.