What is friction?

“Friction is the “evil” of all motion. No matter which direction something moves in, friction pulls it the other way. Move something left, friction pulls right. Move something up, friction pulls down. It appears as if nature has given us friction to stop us from moving anything.

Friction is actually a force that appears whenever two things rub against each other. Although two objects might look smooth, microscopically, they’re very rough and jagged, as this picture shows:

As they slide against each other, their contact is anything BUT smooth. They both kind of grind and drag against each other. This is where friction comes from.”

Why am I asking about friction?

Because last night, I snapped. I thought I had learned much about self-control, gentleness and meekness. But something happened and for a second, I snapped. I went into my room feeling so defeated for not doing what I really wanted to do, which was to stay calm and quiet, but instead I gave in and let out the thunders.

I didn’t know how to approach God. I was crying for His mercy to forgive me and accept my repentance.

And through His grace, the Lord impressed upon me Romans 7.

¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]

    ¹⁹For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.

    ²⁰Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [^[c]fixed and operating in my soul].

    ²¹So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.

    ²²For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature].^(D)

    ²³But I discern in my bodily members [^[d]in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [^[e]in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].

    ²⁴O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?

    ²⁵O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

The Lord is saying that as we move forward and desire godliness and moral purity in our lives, we shall experience friction with our carnality. The  grind that pulls the other way. As we come closer and deeper to the Truth and the ways of the Spirit, we shall experience, not just the obvious grinds, but even the microscopic pulling away of the flesh.

And so my question was, “Lord, how can we overcome the friction?”

In physics, a pulling force must be greater than the frictional force in order to move the object. Just like when walking; the forward force must exceed the frictional force of the floor so you can step forward. Or airplane take off, the airplane must exceed the runway’s friction in order to have a good take off.

In relation to our christian journey,  walking in Spirit is the greater pulling force that will allow us to move forward and pursue godliness in our lives.

We cannot continue and move on in our Christian faith without the Holy Spirit. For it is only by the Spirit that we are able to overcome carnality and all the fleshly desire. Everyday. Every hour. Every minute.

Have we been living a defeated christian life? Okay today, failure the next day? Then we must approach the throne of grace and ask for the Holy Spirit to come and rest on us to help us in our battle against flesh. He is the answer. The ONLY answer. The Holy Spirit is not just an ‘imagination’ that it is in you, you must experience Him and you will be sure in your heart that He is with you.

¹ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,^[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1

May we all have the Greater Push, the Holy Spirit, to overcome our flesh.