23.300 | Set Your Mind On The Things Of The Spirit | Romans 8:5-8 | God’s Word for Today with Pastor Nazario Sinon

Text: Romans 8:5-8 ESV

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.

-Rom 8:5-8 ESV

SET YOUR MIND ON THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT

Christians do not walk or live according to the flesh but according to the Holy Spirit. It is no longer our path, our nature, to walk by the flesh. What is the difference between walking by the Spirit and walking by the flesh as we used to do before we were Christians?

The difference is in our minds. Those who are not Christians, who are living by the flesh, think only of things of the flesh. The flesh refers to the wants and needs driven by the physical body, and the desires of the fallen world. The flesh is hooked to selfish wants and needs, moment by moment.

Setting our minds on one or the other leads in two different directions. A focus on our sinful, selfish desires—the flesh—leads to death. This is the law of death. Whereas, focusing on the things of the Spirit leads to life and peace. That's the law of the Spirit of life.

Christians have not just changed their status from "death to life." We have changed roads from "the road to death to the path of life." Paul’s idea is that true believers will keep going down this road. They keep their minds focused on the Spirit's things because that's the way we're going. That's who we are now. We have left the death way behind. He has a different pursuit in life.

This has been Paul’s injunction in Col 3:1-4, that is, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your[a] life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

The mindset on serving self only cannot submit to God's law. He is not capable of obeying God, no matter how pious he or she might be. It’s anti-God and must serve self above all, including God. This is the mindset that says, "I would submit to God's law only if that does not keep me from getting what I want?" Hence, This way of thinking could not please God.

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