How You Think Determines Your Path Romans 8:1-11 What a wonderful thought that when we are in Christ there is no condemnation, but what does that mean? No condemnation we understand, but being in Christ? Is it just praying the sinner’s prayer that puts us in the position of no condemnation, or is there more? Paul puts forth two laws in Romans 8:1-11. There is the law of the Spirit of Life and the law of Sin and death. He lays these laws out like we would think of the law of gravity. If you jump off a building you will fall. These two laws are equally immutable. He further tells us we have the power through Christ to follow the Spirit of life, but it all hinges on what we think. Paul says if we are carnally minded we will follow the law of sin and death and if we are spiritually minded we will follow the law of spirit and life. Proverbs 23:7 says as a man thinks he will be. How we think matters in the path we will tread. There is another part and that is Christ in us, or the indwelling of the Spirit. Paul says without this we are not Christ’s. In Romans 8: 10 and 11 he uses the word IF when talking about the indwelling of the spirit. That allows for the possibility that he may not be indwelling in us. We can pray the sinner’s prayer and keep God at arm’s length. We want Him to save us but we still wish to be alive to our carnal nature. Save me but don’t change me! Paul says this thinking is the path to sin and death. We need to welcome Him into our thinking so His thoughts are ours and He is part of our everyday thought process. When we do this we will look at this world as Christ does and in the end he will raise us up with Him because he will be in us. Application: Our Thoughts matter and will dictate our actions. When we are new Christians, we follow the law of the Spirit and Life and are free of the law of sin and death because Christ’s righteousness and sacrifice fulfilled the Law and gave us righteousness…. And then we think! Yes we start to think about everything that we have going on in our lives and the things of God fade from our view. Renew your mind in Christ (Romans 12:2) and purpose to follow his path in your thoughts and your deeds will follow. The world will fade and Christ will become our focus. Make it a Point to meditate on Christ and his word daily. - Bruce Hanson
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:01:32 +0000
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