Soaring with eagles

Paul said it this way in Romans 7:15, "that which I don't want to do I do and I do that which I don't want to do."

Everyone of us struggles with the flesh. We want to do good, we want to live righteously, but the flesh like a ball and chain constantly weighs us down.

Carl Sandburg really summarized the struggle well.

He wrote, "There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud."

He may not have known it, but he was describing the life of every believer in Jesus Christ. It's our dual nature, as Paul described in Romans 7:22-23.

Paul writes, "I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another law at work in me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me."

Everyday you and I have to choose: Will we live according to the new nature or the old? Will we soar with the eagles or wallow in the mud?

Our decision determines everything -- how we start our day, what we think about, how we talk to (or talk about) our co-workers, how we spend our spare change, and how we spend our spare time.

Every day, and every moment of every day, you and I have the power to choose our environment: the clear blue sky (being an eagle) or the local hippo hangout (wallowing in the mud). We've got a key to both places, and access is unrestricted --it just depends on where we prefer to be.

And remember: part of the process is who you hang around. It's hard to soar with the eagles when you are flying with turkeys (to continue the metaphor here).

Choose wisely.