Devotional for December 9 For those who live 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. Romans 8:5 SET - This phrase is hard to translate into English without losing some of the ideas. The verb here is phroneo. In Greek, it portrays the total involvement of a persons being the mind, the will and the emotions. Today we would say that this word describes what makes up a persons worldview. What Paul says in Greek is that the total occupation of this person is fixed on the things of this world. The person who lives according to the flesh is not necessarily an immoral character. His life is not full of big sins. He may even seem quite reasonable, kind and upstanding. But his lifes direction and purpose is focused on what this world has to offer. Fame, power, money, prestige, freedom, independence all the attributes of the good life that we see portrayed over and over in advertising. Not ugly, bad things. Just the best the world has to offer. Unfortunately, Gods view is that the best the world has to offer is far away from the life God has to offer. If I am directed by my desire for the best that the world can give me, my life will be consumed with the patterns of this world. And the consequence is that I will have to turn my back on the life of the Spirit. Modern advertising has a phrase for this. It is called life style advertising. The focus of life style advertising is not to tell you about the features of a product or about its price or even about its benefits. The focus of life style advertising is to make you think that if you have this product you will have the same life style as the people who are promoting the product. Drink this kind of beer and women will flock to you. Drive this kind of car and life will be one continuous party. Use this kind of toothpaste and you will be the center of attention. Live in this kind of house and all your troubles will end. Paul warns us that setting our lives according to life style advertising will produce nothing more than a life restricted to the things of a world that is passing away. It might seem so nice, but the truth is that this worlds patterns are opposed to Gods way of doing things. When I was consumed with patterns of this world, I collected a lot of things that I thought were the best life had to offer. Many people said to me, Youre so fortunate. Look at all you have. God said, Why are you letting all those things stand between you and I? Let me remove them from you so that you can see the truth. He was so patient and kind that He took it all away so that I could see clearly. Do not set you mind on the best the world has to offer. God wants much more than that for your life. studylight.org/devotionals/tw/print.cgi?d=1209 Copyright Statement Todays Word devotional, from Skip Moen . © 2008 is used by permission. All rights reserved. Todays Word may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author, along with a link to studylight.org/devotionals/tw/print.cgi?d=1209/ 2) Todays Word may not be arranged or mirrored as a competitive online service.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 18:16:35 +0000
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