Praise God

Romans 8:1-4 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

This is the Good News in a nutshell. For all my Christian brothers and sisters who walk in the Spirit, no further explanation is required. What about those who have come to Christ and have yet to learn how to walk? Do you need some encouragement beyond the quoted verses?

We seldom if ever talk about the law of the Spirit of life in Christ. Perhaps that is because we are tired of all the legal talk and want to enjoy some promised freedom. Allow me if you will to change your thoughts on this one law. It is not a law you have to uphold, as if breaking it has consequences. It is more like a natural law, similar to gravity. It is more closely related to God’s promises that never get broken.

Walking in the Spirit will always and I mean always result in blessings from God. Trip, stumble and fall and guess what, you fall onto the path of righteousness. You don’t fall out, just because you fall down. For the newborn Christian, I understand that hearing and relying on God in the person of the Holy Spirit is a new experience. Exercise those spiritual legs. Like any new experience, you get better at it the more you practice.

Hear, believe, do. Hear, believe, do. Hear, believe, do. Suddenly you’re walking.

Peace Out

Romans 7:22-23 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Peace out was a phrase I used in my hippie days when an argument was posed that I didn’t want to argue. Paul’s argument here is one of those difficult expressions which many do not want to hear and would just as soon not argue.

Jesus preached peace and combated fear in His disciples by simply saying, “Peace, fear not.” Peace be still calms the troubled heart. We are tired of war, tired of fighting. Just give us peace. Peace out.

Paul is addressing an ugly truth that many of us don’t want to talk about. Given that we know the truth, we know what is right, we still make bad choices. How Paul chose to deal with this issue leaves many of us frustrated with a sense of helplessness.

“Bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” is a hard pill to swallow. It sounds like there is nothing I can do to find peace of mind. Paul isn’t directly saying it here and will clarify this later. In the mean time we wrestle with these passages trying to find some glimmer of hope.

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Thank you Paul for the reminder. For those who know the Word, you can see I left out the ending of this quote, once again.

“So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

Some of us do not like to hold two opposing thoughts in our minds at the same time.

Daily Christian Devotionals