The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
(Thanks to Tom's ankle for inspiration on this one)
"Nope? Yep!"
Our beloved beagle Ellie may be the sweetest of all the dogs that have so blessed us through the years (Sparrow, of course, being right there with her). If you've been with us for awhile, you're heard the stories about Ellie that bear witness to the gift of God she is to us. There will doubtless be more to come. Today, however, I'd like to share a particular beagle proclivity we recently heard another another owner of the breed express.
"Nope."
Like all beagles, Ellie loves to please her owners. Frances has done a wonderful job training Ellie, and she does so many things we want and tell her to do. However, she can be a contrarian at times, particularly if she catches a scent of something that interests (fascinates; thrills, intrigues, et al) her. On such occasions, Ellie almost seems to lose her mind as "Nope!" overwhelms the "Yep!" we most often see in her.
"I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans 7:22-23).
Two laws presently exist in born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," and "the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2). The former is greater than the latter by an infinite measure, based on the Lord Jesus Himself being the very heart of "the law of the Spirit of life." It (He) has freed us from the tyranny of sin. It does not always seem this way in our lives and experience, however. Believers can and do still walk after the flesh at times as fleshly inclinations and impulses deceive us into believing sin to be our truest delight. "Nope!" often feels like our most desired response to the will of God, although "Yep!" actually constitutes our deepest and most primary inclination as wrought in us by the Holy Spirit:
"With the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin" (Romans 7:25).
The Apostle Paul was not bragging by his affirmation of "delight in the law of God after the inward man." He rather confessed the truth of his Lord's promised indwelling, and even more, His graciously and unconditionally assured grace: "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). "Yep!" to the will of God forms the disposition of every believer's spirit, based not on ourselves, but rather on God's presence, promise, and power. "Nope!" still resides in our flesh, that is the earthly faculties and members inherited from Adam. "The flesh lusteth against the spirit" (Galatians 5:17). Regardless of contrary emotion, sensation, or experience, however, the plainly stated "Yep!" of a "new man, created in righteousness and true holiness" forever abides as the truth of our innermost being in Christ (Ephesians 4:24).
You can learn a lot from a beagle. Ellie teaches us constantly about love, devotion, sweetness, and how to greet beloved family members when they return home after being away. She also reminds us of our "Yep!" of the spirit and "Nope!" of the flesh. If you ask us about Ellie, her "Yep!" will be our primary response, regardless of those times when her "Nope!" can be exasperating. We do well to apply the same emphasis to ourselves. "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Romans 8:9). Far too much was sacrificed on the cross of Calvary for believers to focus on our flesh as primary. It is not, and has not been since were were born again through faith in the Christ who died not only to make forgiveness possible, but rather to make actual the grace of "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. "Old things are passed away, behold all thing are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17). Through Him, "Yep!" is the delight of our Christ-indwelt hearts. Realizing the truth makes possible and far more actual our necessary addressing of the "Nope!" that presently remains in our flesh. Now, if we can communicate this to Ellie!
"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh… If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
(Galatians 5:16; 17)
"Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."
(Romans 8:9)
Weekly Memory Verse
Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 5:20-21).
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