Message from Scripture: 9/26/2020

Our message from Scripture today is Rom. 8:6. ^“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”

The term mind is used often in Scripture, sometimes with related but distinct meanings. In this passage, Paul is using the term to refer to the ability to think and reason, the organ of moral knowledge, man's highest faculty, by which he recognizes the will of God for his own life. Depending on what we allow in our minds, the thoughts, sounds, images and concepts that surround us, it can be focused on doing what is good, or what is bad. If we don’t discern what we allow in it, the knowledge we gain and an understanding of what we perceive and set as our standard for morals and values, what we think, will be corrupt. This leads to unacceptable behavior, and if not redirected,  it leads to death.

Instead of letting worldly values direct our thinking, we need to focus on what the Spirit reveals to us through the word. Paul makes a similar statement in Rom. 12:2; “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Don’t think what you watch on television, or listen to on the radio, or hear from the conversation of others, or what you read on media sources, doesn’t have an influence on you. Satan takes advantage of every tool available to redirect our minds to sin. We must take every thought captive for the purpose of obeying Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

To this end Paul told the Christians in Philippi, “And this I pray, that your love may overflow still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may discover the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God” (Phil. 1:9-11).

Before making any decisions about how to live your life, make sure you have the knowledge and wisdom to listen to God over the world. What you let in your thoughts will ultimately show up in how you live. As the psalmist said, “Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (Psa. 119:104). Fill yourself with God’s word, and have a great day. God bless.

Robert