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The Daily Word of Righteousness
To Will and To Do, #2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1—NIV)
A great part of the Christian life consists of becoming willing to do what God desires instead of what we desire.
Our desires come from our entire personality but our will is funneled through our mind. We take stock of what we think we ought to do, based on what we believe to be the proper action, and then we consider the desires of our personality. On these two bases we choose our course. We exercise our will in making a choice. Our standard of right and wrong either justifies our action or condemns it. From this we understand our mind plays an extremely important role in our salvation.
The Apostle Paul recognizes the crucial role of the mind, as follows:
Those 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. (Romans 8:5—NIV)
To succeed as a Christian we must choose at all times to look to the Spirit of God for what we should be doing. It is difficult in America to serve the Lord because there are so many things that occupy our mind. Many of the things and issues that occupy our mind are necessary. However, many are not necessary and these keep us from serving the Lord as we should.
The mind focused on the flesh dwells on our eating, sleeping, working, playing, and reproducing. The mind focused on the Spirit of God is occupied with serving the Lord. Time is spent in prayer, meditating in God's Word, gathering with fervent saints, seeking opportunities to serve the household of God, and in similar Christian activities. The hopes and joys of the individual are found in things above, not just in things on the earth.
The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; (Romans 8:6—NIV)
When our mind is occupied overmuch with the things of the world we are living in spiritual death. When we keep seeking the mind of the Spirit of God we enjoy eternal life and lasting peace.
The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. (Romans 8:7—NIV)
The mind of the adamic nature is an enemy of God. It does not submit to God because it is unable to do so.
Paul tells us we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Paul speaks of having the mind of Christ. Our mind is renewed as we choose to present our body a living sacrifice to God. This is the way we worship God and the way we prove His will.
So we see that the mind is a key player as we work out our salvation. But behind the mind is our will, which chooses whether our mind will dwell on the things of our sinful flesh and soul or whether our mind will be focused on Christ and the things of God.
To be continued.