The Flesh, the World, and the Devil

As followers of Jesus, we come up against the flesh, the world, and the devil. These enemies of our spirits have been split into these same categories since the 13^th Century and St. Thomas Aquinas. The verses used to demonstrate this division of temptations is found in Ephesians.

In which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.

-Ephesians 2:2-3a

“The world, the flesh, and the devil” is the order that these are traditionally described, but this disregards the hierarchy of how we are attacked. If we can be tempted by the flesh, we will be. If we cannot be tempted by the flesh, then the things of the world will tempt us. And if we resist the temptations of the world, then we can expect spiritual attacks to attempt to derail us.

The Flesh: Our Base Desires and Wants

Throughout history, different cultures have called “the flesh” different things. The concept of it has been described as the id in Freudian psychology, and even now, there is a push to “live in your body.” This generally starts as an attempt to make us more present, getting us out of our thoughts and focusing on what we sense in the moment.

When we “live in our bodies,” however, we can quickly slip into pursuing all of the things that make us feel good. We focus on our bodies and easily become servants to their cravings, following their desires and thoughts.

These are the easiest temptations to identify. We crave something that is outright sinful. If we indulge, then we sin. They are our base wants, the sin nature that pushes us to debase ourselves and become nothing more than animals.

In the wilderness, the devil tempted Jesus to turn a stone into bread. It was simple. Jesus had been fasting, and he was hungry.

At its heart, the flesh is us tempting ourselves to sin. There is no need for the devil to even get involved. We desire something, and we struggle against resisting it.

The main danger of this type of temptation is trying to find the “non-sinful” way we can satisfy our flesh. We look for the loophole that allows us to get what we desire while we can also explain why it is not actually wrong for us to indulge in it.

But Jesus sets an incredibly high standard for us: “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” -Matthew 5:28.

The standard is not for us to find a non-sinful way to satisfy the desires of our flesh but to deny ourselves and reject any root of the flesh taking hold of our hearts.

The World: The Glitz and Glamour of the Rich and Famous

In many ways, the bougie lifestyle is appealing. There are so many nice objects, delicious food, exotic places, and unique things to do. And we live in a time now where all of this is accessible to basically any person in the West. We see rich and famous people travel and live the lives we believe we want.

And who does not want to be wealthy? If we were offered a raise in salary for the same job, there is not a person out there who would reject it.

This is not new. The devil took Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him “all of the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.” All Jesus had to do was bow to the devil, and He would be given all that splendor.

Millions would gladly accept that offer and even settle for much less. For those of us who follow Christ, the temptation is there.

Jesus called us to go against the flow of the world. The systems and everybody in the world are designed for us to pursue wealth and our selfish ambition, but Jesus calls us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Jesus calls us to push against the flow of this world.

And that’s the temptation. We see the riches of the world, and we see the ease of falling into the flow of it. It would be much easier for us to float downstream than to swim upstream. Plus, it has the added benefit of enjoying all of its splendor.

We want the lifestyle of the rich and famous, and we want to live like kings. But we have been called to cast our crowns before Jesus and to live for His kingdom instead of living for our own.

The Devil: When the Going Gets Tough

There is a spiritual realm in this world, and there are spiritual forces whose goal is for us to falter, sin, and fall. We have an enemy against us.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

-1 Peter 5:8-9

We tempt ourselves to sin with our flesh. Then, the world and all of its structures and systems push us to sin by pursuing the things of it. But if those don’t work, then the devil does not give up. He attacks.

Look at the story of Job. He was a righteous man. But the claim by the devil was that he was only righteous because things were going well for him. He lost everything. That was a spiritual attack from the devil.

Also, Jesus declares “Get behind me Satan!” to Peter when Peter was protesting that Jesus should suffer. Jesus knew that he had to go through the cross, a spiritual attack from the devil.

We see in those verses in 1 Peter that we can expect to suffer because the family of believers is undergoing the same suffering. When we successfully resist the temptations of the flesh and the world, the devil with his spiritual forces will come against us.

It might not seem like a spiritual battle. To Job, it looked like accidents and disease. It was just bad luck. Or to his friends, it looked like retribution for unrepentant sin in his life. They were on the right track. It was a spiritual battle taking place.

In the same way, in our lives, it can look like bad luck or a series of bad events. It can look like accidents or unfortunate situations. But if we resist temptation, follow Jesus, and give Him the glory for all good things in our lives, we need not to be surprised if we end up suffering through no fault of our own. The devil is not going to remain on the sideline and allow us to shine Jesus’ light without impediment.

How Can We Prevail?

Knowing what tempts us can help us see what we must do to resist it.

When our flesh tempts us, we must deny ourselves to resist it. This is a lot easier to say than it is to do. There is always a reason we crave something. It can be simple, like we are hungry. Or it can be more complicated, based on unresolved past hurts and traumas. These will generally lead to habitual sin and addictions. In the long run, we will have to go through some therapy, counseling, or addiction programs to be free of these deeper issues.

But right now, when our flesh tempts us, the answer is the same for both: deny ourselves. We have to do whatever we need to do so that we can say no. Most of the time, this involves removing ourselves from the situation where we are being tempted. Sometimes, all it takes is a simple thought like, “This is my flesh tempting me to sin. I choose to deny my flesh, and I will not give in to it.” This can be enough to snap us out of a temptation spiral.

The first time we deny ourselves, though, will be very difficult. It is like any muscle. With practice, we will get better at it. Fasting is a great way to create a habit of denying ourselves. When we practice fasting, we break the hold that our body has on us and create less dependence on what we feel we need at the moment.

Any denial of oneself goes straight against the world. The world wants us to indulge ourselves. It wants us to pursue our pleasures. We must remind ourselves that we are not living to achieve the same things this world promotes. When we tithe, are generous, celebrate others, and give glory to God, we are doing the things that go against the current of this world. Again, these are muscles that need to be worked out.

It is much harder to give when we are not used to giving. It is even worse if we love the thing we are giving away. But our affections should not be on this world, which is why we must give and be generous if only to tear our love away from here so that we can more fully give our love to the Lord.

And lastly, bad things happen. Sometimes, they are the consequences of bad decisions we have made. But sometimes, they come through no fault of our own. We live in a fallen world. And the ruler of this fallen world wants us to fall away. It is not helpful to look for Satan behind every bad thing that happens, but it is also ignorant to believe that he is not behind some of the bad things that happen.

The only response to this spiritual attack is to worship and praise God. We have recognized that our affections need to be on the Lord. We also know that God has control of everything, and He uses everything for our good. If He has allowed something terrible to happen to us, then we can thank God for the good that He will bring from it. We can choose to learn and grow and be stronger because of the trials instead of becoming despondent.

So, the best thing to do when things go wrong and we are struggling is to choose to worship. We don’t know why it happened, and we may never know why, but we can trust the Lord and worship Him. When we don’t want to, we are not feeling joy, and we are angry at God because of what has happened, that is when we must choose to praise and worship Him anyway. That is the pinnacle of showing God that we love Him. We do not want bad things to happen to us, but when they do, we should not waste them by getting angry at God or falling into depression. Let us take advantage of the opportunity to show God we love Him despite our circumstances.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

-James 4:7