What are the characteristics of a carnal Christian?
“A self-centered mindset” describes a carnal Christian.
A “carnal, unfaithful or nominal Christian” is one in whom the flesh is in control, not the Spirit of God, a sign of immaturity.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Hebrews chapter 5:
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the Word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
He is a saved believer, but he loves the world and himself more than he loves Christ. Thus, he operates out of his own desires rather than God’s will. He does not apply the kratos power of God to rein in his own thoughts and emotions. He can’t because the Spirit of God is quenched. Because of this, there is no life transformation in his soul, no Agape Love, no resurrection power, and no fruit.
Paul urges us in Romans chapter 12:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God.
And in Galatians chapter 5:
16 Let me emphasize this: As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.
17 When your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit you hinder Him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the new creation Life of the Spirit.
18 But when you yield to the life of the Spirit, you will no longer be living under the law, but soaring above it!
Instead of overcoming the flesh, the world, and the enemy by the power of God, these unfaithful Christians allow their flesh to rule over them, the world has a hold on them, and the enemy has acquired a stronghold in them.
Some of the characteristics that a carnal or unfaithful Christian displays are a bad temper, anger, fretting, murmuring, pride, selfishness, malice, worldliness, evil speaking, bitterness, jealousy, envy, quarreling, and hatred.
They also portray self-confidence, self-centeredness, self-exaltation, self-reliance, self-importance, self-love, and self-ambition. On the other end of the spectrum, they can also be totally consumed with themselves through self-pity, self-condemnation, and self-doubt. Either way, they are pridefully consumed with themselves and not God.
The Beloved Disciple summed it up as he wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1st John chapter 2:
15 Don’t set the affections of your heart on this world or in loving the things of the world. The Love of the Father and the love of the world are incompatible.
16 For all that the world can offer us—the gratification of our flesh, the allurement of the things of the world, and the obsession with status and importance—none of these things come from the Father but from the world.
17 This world and its desires are in the process of passing away, but those who love to do the will of God live forever.
Who do you love more- self or FATHER? That is the question each of us must ask in order to move toward full maturity as an overcomer.