Romans 8:5-9
5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Read Romans 8:1-11 for context)
This passage needs a little background information in order for you to understand what God was saying to his people at this time. Before Christ died Christ couldn’t dwell inside of us (I mean how could he… he was either not born or still alive). It wasn’t until Acts 2, that we had the power of Christ in us. So this passage is telling the people what they are supposed to do in order to live like a Christian since this whole concept was completely new.
I have heard this taught on many times before and it has always been done in the same way. That if you are in a sinful pattern and constantly feeding your flesh with its desires then we deserve death. But as I read this the other day I saw it in a different light. How often do we go about our day only feeding what our flesh wants, and it not necessarily being a sinful thing?
I think that this can be viewed as being focused on things of the world that aren’t necessarily sinful things. Once you become a Christian you start battling the thought of what you want versus what God wants for you. Since you are not in the flesh but in the spirit then you can please God (v9). So how do you stay focused on God in order to make the decisions he wants you to make?
I feel like for me this mind set of being Kingdom focused (focused on what would impact the Kingdom of Christ) starts at the beginning of my day. For me it isn’t reading first when I wake up either because I cannot focus on text at the crack of dawn. This doesn’t mean that I don’t connect with God first when I wake up though.
I usually sit and pray first thing to ask God to not let me miss something that he wants me to say or do for somebody. This helps ME put God first in my mind for the rest of the day instead of waking up thinking about what I need. This is what works for me, and it may be different for you.
My challenge to you is what are you focused on? Is it something that God wants you to focus on, or is it just to make yourself feel good?
TJ
What’s up boys!
So I want to get your ideas of what you want this site to be used for. I have written a post on the about page of what Logan and I want it to be used for, but we are open to suggestions! So, if there is something that you really want to have on this site just post a comment and we’ll see if we can make that happen.
If you have something that God is doing in your life and you want it to be posted just send it to me through email at tdelucc@clemson.edu Peace…
TJ
