It is not easy to change your way of thinking or behavior that you have formed over a long period of time.
Because you tend to accept and understand only within your own boundaries of your framework, in the case that you’ve formed a wrong framework of truth in your own, it is difficult to understand the true will of God contained in the Word.
‘Self-righteousness’ is to insist that one’s opinions are right, and ‘frameworks’ is the solidification of thoughts, thinking a certain thing is right.
If you cannot destroy such fleshy thoughts, you cannot come into spirit and you may stop at the threshold of spirit.
Therefore, along with fervent prayer, there must be a constant effort to discover yourself in the light of the word of the truth.




01. Fleshly thoughts that come from the frameworks of temperaments

Some people do not realize the temperaments that they inherited from their parents and are hidden inside their chi, or life-energy. So, they cannot discover their shortcomings nor cast them away.
There are some who are born with an introversive temperament. They are usually quiet and they generally do not get angry or quarrel and break peace.
However, if such people become the leader of a group, because they just remain passive when the leader has to be decisive, they may lack in caring for others and leading them with confidence. Nevertheless, they do not have evident trouble with others and because they consider others with goodness, they don’t realize the problem that lies with themselves.
On the other hand, some people are born with outgoing characters. They are passionate in every work and they express themselves very well. But they tend to lack service. They do not really consider others better than themselves. They don’t give comfort to others. When they have to step back and yield, they cannot have peace with others, thinking that they have to long for spirit and advance into Heaven.


02. Fleshly thoughts that come from negative characters

People who looked at the world in sorrow and resentment tend to lead a life of faith with difficulties because of the fleshly thoughts that come out from the negative characters.
For example, they try to pray and work for God’s kingdom to cast away sins and receive blessings. In the meantime, another person who is in a similar situation has received the blessing that he wanted to receive. As they feel that others are going ahead of them, they become nervous and disheartened.
Because they cannot feel the love of God deeply in their hearts, when they deal with others, they do not understand and accept others according to their measure of faith. They look at others within their frameworks.


03. Fleshly thoughts that come from the deficiencies of the body

People go through many stages in their physical growth and maturation, and in each step, they must experience and be trained to do certain things. A deficiency of the body is a lacking in this experience and training.
For example, those who are not trained to listen to the teacher may not be able to focus on what others are saying even after they become adults. So, they cannot concentrate in worship services, and they cannot listen to others carefully in conversations.
Also, they may not be able to pay close attention while listening to what their boss is saying and they make mistakes. It’s not that they want to disobey the will of God, but they use their own fleshly thoughts because they cannot keep it in their mind.
Some people are raised in a kind of closed environment, and they lack communication skills. They do not really understand other people’s way of thinking or way of expressing themselves. They cannot really get along with others smoothly.
It is because they think within their own experience, ‘I like this, and I’m sure he thinks the same way too,” but their thinking is not right.


04. Fleshly thoughts that are hidden in the fullness of the environment

Some people mistakenly think they are always having spiritual thoughts although they are neglecting circumcising their heart. Because of the happy feelings coming from the circumstances, they just forget about their fleshly thoughts they have from time to time.
Some people cannot overcome when they face any hardship. Only by circumcising the depths of the heart and possessing the fullness of the Holy Spirit that does not fade away under any circumstances, we can possess the sincere heart and perfect faith.


05. Fleshly thoughts that come from the minute untruths

Some people have cultivated their heart with the truth to a significant extent, but they have fleshly thoughts because they didn’t get rid of minute untruths completely. When someone gives them advice, they agree with the advice itself, but for a moment they feel uncomfortable.
If you have just 0.1 percent of discomfort in your heart, you are not a man of spirit. But because the other 99.9 percent is the heart of goodness, and because such uncomfortable thoughts pass by very quickly, you just forget that 0.1 percent of minute untruth and you cannot cross over the threshold to the spirit.


06. Fleshly thoughts that come from the framework of truth

Some people interpret the word of truth in their own way and consider certain things to be right and good, and solidify those ideas. So, they don’t realize that it is wrong. In some situations, their thoughts derived from such frameworks are right, and they are even more convinced of their ideas.
Suppose a worker in the church is touched by the pastor who is forgiving and covering the faults of a church member. Here, this worker forms a framework of goodness thinking, ‘It is goodness to forgive and understand.’ Then, he tries to forgive and cover up the faults of the flock that is entrusted to him. However, sometimes he needs to rebuke or punish someone in order to lead that soul to repent and turn away from sins. But he cannot understand the love of God more deeply for that soul because of the fleshly thought coming from his framework of goodness.