The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Yield Yourselves"
Part 4 - Life and Death
"Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:13).
"If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (enliven) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:10-11).
The Apostle Paul calls us to yield living selves, acknowledged and affirmed as spirits united to the Spirit of Christ - "alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord… He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17). Paul also commands that we yield dead bodies, recognized as "instruments of righteousness" that belong to God, but are dead in the sense they are are not yet glorified and thus directly infused with the life of Christ. "This mortal must put on immortality" (I Corinthians 15:53).
"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" indwells our spiritual selves through the new birth. Conversely, a "law of sin," inherited from Adam in our original birth, remains in our earthly members and faculties (Romans 8:2; 7:23). God calls believers to overcome the desires of the latter by availing ourselves of the power of the former. Powered flight provides a clear example of this truth. Whether in bees, birds, airplanes or rockets, to soar into the air requires the temporary overcoming of the law of gravity by properly applied laws of aerodynamics. Both laws continue to exist and function when an object flies. However, one overcomes the other through proper application of one law in respect to the other. "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8:13).
In the same manner, when a born again believer in Christ obeys God, "the law of the Spirit of life" overcomes "the law of sin and death." "Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:25). Our role in this flight of grace involves response to the Holy Spirit's working in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians. 2:13). We acknowledge our delight, based on His presence and power, to trust and obey God. "I delight in the law of God after the inward man." We also recognize the law of sin in our earthly members "lusteth against the spirit" (Galatians 5:17). When we feel conflict between the two laws, the choice that lies before us involves our determination to believe that the delight of our innermost being, indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, involves obedience to God. We can believe otherwise, of course. If so, we will fail to fly in faith and faithfulness. In such times, we live as if God were not alive, present and active in us. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." Conversely, if we choose to believe the truth about God and ourselves, we will "mount up with wings as eagles" and live through Christ (Isaiah 20:31). "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8:13).
Life and death - these are the issues that comprise our walk with God as temptation provides opportunity and challenge to "mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body," and as by faith we "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Romans 8:13; Ephesians 4:24). Understanding the truth in these Biblical terms establishes our hearts and minds in the Savior and the Scriptures, as led by the Holy Spirit. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (Romans 8:32). Thereby, we find ourselves far more enabled to face the ongoing challenge of life and death by fighting the good fight of faith, and living in the wonder of life known in the risen Christ as He lives in us, and we "live through Him" (I John 4:9).
"Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
(Romans 6:4)
Weekly Memory Verse
Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
(Galatians 5:25)
7160
No comments:
Post a Comment