Right thinking leads to peace while wrong leads to death

Posted by Timothy

June 1, 2009

The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.^[c] So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸ That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life^[d] because you have been made right with God. (Romans 8:3-10 (NLT))

And:

³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,^[a] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.^[b] And so he condemned sin in sinful man,^[c] ⁴in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

⁵Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶The mind of sinful man^[d] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; ⁷the sinful mind^[e] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

⁹You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. (Romans 8:3-10 (New International Version))

I’ve provided context but the actual verse to focus on is Romans 8:6: "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;"

It defines the sinful nature as having minds set on what "nature desires" or think about "sinful things" — this exercise isn’t to condemn, it’s to help cleanse. What are some areas that we should identify, acknowledge, and then replace with one that is controlled by the Spirit rather than "hostile to God."

Some areas that can get in the way of us achieving success, abundance, and most importantly, peace where our sinful nature can take over. Review and just check off the areas that affect you, and write others that may be missing. But wrestle with this, maybe take time to think over the moments when you are least productive, or most angry and fearful, and capture those:

regret
anger
greed
worry
fear
revenge
envy
lust
hatred
apathy
boredom

Write down others and write down, "I will submit my (x) to God’s law and let it be controlled by the Spirit."

In other words, don’t fight it yourself. Yes, you should take the thoughts captive, but I wrestled myself with how much willpower to end those thoughts. We need the willpower to be aware, to acknowledge it, to take them captive; but replace it with good thoughts (as we’ll see) and let our mind be controlled by the Spirit to experience peace. It takes willpower to actively, consciously will to submit and be controlled, but read the passage and look at the choices.

One choice leads to death. The other leads to peace.

Prayer:

In you own words, ask, "God let your spirit control my mind. Bring peace. Bring to light the sinful thoughts, the sinful desires, because my mind perversely enjoys these thoughts. But I will "submit" those thoughts and allow the Spirit to control and bring peace."

Actions

Review the words you’ve indicating and describe what does the "peace" of the Spirit bring to you in terms of images, feelings, and physical results in the world around you such as the way your day would be different. Write it down.

Praise

Be thankful there’s a way out of the craziness of going into your sinful thoughts. Be thankful there is there choice that we can make of Life or Death, abundance or scarcity, peace or worry.

Learn more and how this is more powerful than the heavily marketed Law of Attraction!

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