December 16, 2019 WHO’S LEADING ?
Romans 8:12-14 “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.”
We are all following, or being guided by someone. That someone may be someone we admire and respect, it may our boss, or our pastor, or someone who we deem as being successful, etc. The truth is, that it may appear that we are following one or more of these individuals, but it is really self that we are following. For example, we may be following the one who has made it in this world-who is ‘successful’-because we want the same success. We may follow the pastor, because we perceive that he is close to God-and there is where we want to be. After all said and done, we are either following the Spirit of God in us, are we are following self-the things we want. No doubt, self can be about some good deeds, such as feeding the hungry, etc., but it is still self that is being satisfied and self gets the credit. As we see in the verses above, as believers, we have two choices of living; we either live according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. Basically, living according to the flesh is living according to our own dictates, what we want, what we think will make us ‘happy.’ Living according to the Spirit means that we have died to, or laid aside our self and are following the leading of the Spirit of God who indwells us. In fact, it is only by the power of the Spirit in us that we can lay aside our old self-that we can ‘put to death the deeds of the body.’ Now, the blessing is that contrary to the natural inclinations of self, when we lay aside self-we live! This is a mystery-when we die, we live. God wants us to live-not limited to life in the flesh-but live according to His plans and purposes and according to His definition of life. John 10:10 is a tremendous truth we must grasp: “The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.” Paul tells us that if we are living according to the flesh, we must die-meaning that we must die to self if we are to live according to the Spirit. The last part of the verse above is a sobering statement, saying that those who are being led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. We must never take lightly this matter of who we are following-our ‘flesh’ (self) or the Spirit of God. We do not have to live according to the flesh; we can live according to the Spirit and live.
Romans 8:5-6 “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”
Blessings.
Buddy
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