Today​’s Scrip-Bit 24 April 2019 Romans 8:5.

Romans 8:5.   ​For they that are after the flesh do mind (set their minds on) the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
 
And then it was Wednesday…and everybody breathes a small sigh of relief, for Monday and Tuesday are now past, and it’s just Thursday to get through before the big day of Friday! 

Ah friends, so many of us waste our time looking towards the weekend that we don’t get to enjoy the weekdays! The Lord gave us seven days in a week, why only enjoy two or three eh? That way we’re wasting the majority of them and not realizing our full potential of joy and joyfulness that the Lord has made available to us. 

By now, most of us should be mature enough, both in age and faith to realize that work is inevitable, and if so, we should just get with the programme! Furthermore, if we truly have Jesus in our hearts, souls, bodies and minds, then we ought to be glad to have the chance to go out everyday and share Him and His Good News with others. Remember, that’s our earthly bounden duty. 

The long and short of the story is that the day of the week should not really matter, we ought to just get up and do what we have to do with a warm and LOVING spirit, even though the body might feel otherwise. Yes, the spirit is usually willing but the flesh is often weak!

Remember too that we’re no longer carnal, living just to glorify our fleshly needs and wants, but spiritual beings, living now to glorify spiritual desires. That means we’re to live life in the Spirit rather than in the flesh. 

And this is how Bruh Paul describes living life in the Spirit to the church at Rome. ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.’ (Rom.8:1) Glory be my people! If we’re walking in the Spirit, then the law of sin, the law of fleshly matters no longer condemns us! 

Why? ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.’ (Rom.8:3) Yes friends, that ‘law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,’ is basically ‘the influence of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life to obedience and good works.’ 

Yes, it’s all about the Holy Spirit of Christ moving and working successfully in our everyday lives, our everyday walk of faith! ‘For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for (on account of) sin, condemned sin in the flesh.’ (Rom.8:3) 

And the scholars explain that thus: ‘8:3. Law…was weak: There is nothing inherently wrong with the law. The presence of sin renders the believer powerless to do what the law demands. The likeness of sinful flesh: Christ was truly human but not a sinner. (2 Cor.5:21).’ 

And all of that happened ‘That the righteousness (righteous requirement) of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind (set their minds on) the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.’ (Rom.8:4-5) 

Yes friends, it’s as simple as that…note I didn’t say easy! (smile) But if the things and problems and anxieties of the world are what drive our engines, then we will obviously be more concerned about them.

However, if the things of the Spirit, the things of God, are our driving force then we will walk more appropriately in the Spirit and not fulfill the carnal lusts of the flesh. ‘For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.’ (Rom.8:6) 

Ah my faithful brethren, it could not be put any plainer and more straightforwardly than that! Why? ‘Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.’ (Rom.8:7)

More simple logic friends! Carnality, or death, is not, nor can it be of God, because it involves sin, and God does not deal in Sin. Thus this conclusion: ‘So they that are in the flesh cannot please God.’ (Rom.8:8) 

Neither is trying to sit on the fence, having one foot in both worlds the answer, for as Jesus so rightly said: ‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon (at the same time).’ (Matt.6:24) You can’t serve both the world and God at the same time. Plus we ought to be in the world, but not of the world, and wherever our treasure is stored, there will our hearts be. 

Meaning that if we’re seeking the things of the world, then our hearts will be in the world, but if we’re seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then our hearts will be looking heavenward.

And the last word on the subject is: ‘For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body, ye shall live.’ (Rom.8:13) 

So for those of us who are truly trying to look towards heaven, to live in the Spirit and not in the flesh, let’s go home now defiantly and sincerely declaring (Steups! wrong again!) our Wednesday Wail letting all and sundry know our esteemed position in Christ, so that they too can work towards it. 

All together in strong voice: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! 

I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

And what an amazing and glorious future it will surely be! Much LOVE!

…LOVE for the things of the world…brings death and eternal damnation…LOVE for the things of God…assures us of heaven and eternal life…