You Epidermis Is Showing

I was a self conscious first grader on the bus the first time I heard the word. A much older child looked at me and said, "Your epidermis is showing!" I had no idea what it meant but I was sure it couldn't be good. Because I didn't know what it was I didn't know how to fix it. I got off the bus and went running into the house crying. I found my mother, lifted my tear stained face and whispered to her the horrible truth that my epidermis was showing and I didn't know what to do about it. Mother wrapped her arms around me and choking back the laughter as she explained that epidermis means skin.

I thought about this expression recently in relation to the "flesh". When the Bible speaks of the "flesh" it speaks of natural desires that have become warped or twisted. I was under a lot of pressure and my response was to become angry and unkind. After my emotional explosion I sat there feeling very exposed and the words came back to me, "Your epidermis is showing!" not just my skin but also my "flesh".

One analogy I heard for the "flesh" was a scar on the landscape of your soul. I like this analogy because as I consider my fleshly patterns that are contrary to walking according to the Spirit of God I can sometimes trace it back to a scar on my soul. A scar is a place where once there was a wound. When I was a little girl I used food to comfort myself. There is nothing wrong with food but when I turn to food for comfort instead to God it is a fleshly response to pain and not a spiritual response. When life get stressful sometimes I revert back to this fleshly response to pain and "my epidermis shows".

So what should I do to deal with this? If I go to a bookstore I can find countless number of self-help books. I have bought many myself. However, I have never been able by self effort to bring healing. There is always suppression. I determine that I will suppress my "flesh", but the more I think about suppressing my "flesh" the greater the desire becomes to give into it. In this struggle I identify with Paul who said, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For I have a desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out." Romans 12:18

Is there a solution for this problem? Oh Yes! "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh ,could not do." Romans 8:1-8 It is not by suppression or human effort that I deal with these scars on the landscape of my soul it is a matter of walking by the spirit. "But I say walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Galatians 5:16

Lord Jesus, I come humbly before you. Thank you coming to earth to be my Savior. Thank you for setting me free from the law of sin and death. Thank you for setting me free by the power of Your Spirit. Help me today to walk in the freedom of Your Spirit and not in my flesh.