This Day in History: 0000-08-17

August 17 – Romans 8:5-11

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
So letting your sinful nature control your minds leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.
That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.
(And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all)
And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.
And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

If we belong to God, we are not dead! We’re not bound to the trappings of sin. Instead, we have been made alive in Christ!

This means we don’t have to think about sinful things. We don’t have to let our sinful natures control our minds. We don’t have to live in hostility to God. We don’t have to disobey His law and live a life that never pleases Him. We are free from all of it for one simple reason:

The Holy Spirit of the Living God lives IN US!

If we belong to God, His Spirit controls us. We’re free to think about things that please Him. We’re free to live in obedience to Him. We are, in every moment of our lives, pleasing to Him simply because we are His!  So, even though our bodies are wasting away, and we’re still trapped by their fallen natures, we can live with hope and purpose. We can live for the life we’ve received in the Spirit because we know we stand before God, covered in the blood of Jesus, and made right in His eyes. We know the Holy Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, has become part of our very being and He will raise us to new life too. Praise God!