Romans 7: 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Teeing off a devotion series and Sunday School lesson by Chris Garick, I find myself in these verses. I want to do what I know is good, but temptation is a powerful and incredibly deceptive thing. The things that tempt me may be very different than the things that tempt you. I think this is why we so often readily identify sin in other people's lives that they seem blind to or unwilling to admit. We tend to have a "we've got it," or "its not really a problem," or "I can stop any time I want to," or "if God didn't want me to do this He wouldn't have created me to do it" attitude or mentality. Sin tells us that we can "have our cake and eat it too" as Satan told Eve that she would not surely die in the garden leading up to the original sin. While we know Satan lied to Eve, we often miss the lies he has sold us and to miss these lies exposes us to terrible consequences as documented in Romans 8: 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
I've never heard a person say categorically that they don't want to please God, but know so many that are bent on living a life displeasing to God and are either blind to it or are rationalizing it with the statements above. Fortunately, as Chris goes on to point out in his own devotion on this subject, the story doesn't end with an everlasting internal struggle that is up to us to fight alone. Romans 8: 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,[g] Father.”
So it is clear than if we have accepted Christ as our Savior and we are actively living a life led by the Spirit, we are freed from battling sin on our own, but have all the power of God inside us battling it for us. The key here is what Jimmy Whited preached on so well yesterday: we must be actively pursuing a life led by the Spirit, not our own "wisdom," logic, or ideas. To say that "God gave me a brain and expects me to use it" is to risk putting our own will above that of God's. I'll concede only that God has given us a brain and expects us to use it to seek him. Beyond that, we risk putting ourselves on the throne of our lives instead of the Holy Spirit.
So how have you responded to Jimmy's invitation to make Jesus Lord? Are you wrestling with the subject to the point you're criticizing the sermon, or are you examining your own life to see where the Holy Spirit needs to be given control? I know I have areas in my life that have yet to be fully in control of the Spirit. I long for the promised peace of life in the spirit, but know that it only comes through death to myself and living a life led by Him.
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