Romans 8:1-8 English Standard Version

Life in the Spirit

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For 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. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

I was looking for a passage and I knew it was in Romans 8 so rather than doing a search, I just opened Romans 8 and began reading. As I read it dawned on me again, as it has so many times before, about the power of this opening. It literally says everything we need to know about living in the Spirit.

But we live our life struggling with the flesh and we need reminders about the mind that is set on the flesh and the hostile attitudes that are dangerous for us in the relationship we have with God.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” While true and absolutely necessary, this knowledge does not cover every aspect of life, only the final judgment.

Romans 8:18

Future Glory

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

This is the passage I was looking for as I began my search. The reason is because of the emotions within myself that stem from comparing myself to a glory that has not been revealed to me as I anticipate its appearance. That is me wanting to see something which is beyond my control. The will of the Father takes precedence. Yet somehow I think that if I want a good thing that I should receive it. That is flesh talking.

2 Corinthians 10:12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

This is true but I need to be reminded not to do this to myself.

Psalm 131:1-2 English Standard Version

I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul

1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

This is David, I am not David.

Perhaps it is because I occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous. The motivation of my heart is to know God in a close and intimate relationship. How David weaned himself from attitude seems beyond me because I do not consider myself as a child weaned from mother’s milk.

Isaiah 28:9 “To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast?”

There is the question, what is the answer?

Isaiah 28:10 “For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”

Isn’t this exactly what I have been doing?

Isaiah 28:16 therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

It seems that rather than enjoying my Walk with Jesus, I am impatient to obtain a promise whose time has not come. Yet.

And here I thought I had dealt with my impatience.

Lord help me.

“I am.”