Someone has said that cultivating our spiritual life begins in earnest when we recognize that we all have what amounts to two dogs living within us - a “good dog” and a “bad dog”. The key is feeding the good dog and starving the bad one. Paul described not two dogs, but two forces within us - the sinful nature and the Spirit.

In his discussion about our ‘bad dog’ or sinful nature, the apostle identified four groups of sins: 1. all forms of sexual impurity, 2. sins of superstition, 3. attitudes and actions that flow from a rebellious heart, and 4. sins of excess that flow from a complete lack of self control. As Paul looked back over this list, he noted that people whose lives are given over to such sins will not enter God’s kingdom. A life that is characterized by these and other ‘acts of the sinful nature’ reveals a person who isn’t at all connected with God.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to be sure we don’t feed our sinful nature. We can’t starve it to death; our sinful nature will be with us until we’re with the Lord. But we can weaken it by avoiding situations in which we’re tempted to sin, and praying for the Spirit’s power to over come temptation when it does strike.