(Today's devotional is by Dr. Li-Chen Tsai, our English/Youth coworker)
You and I were born with a sinful nature. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)
Sin means missing the mark. It is a failure to live up to God’s requirements. The focus is in pleasing the flesh.
After we become Christians, God gives us a Helper, the Holy Spirit …“whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26). Those who accept Jesus receive the gift of the power of Holy Spirit to overcome sin.
So there are two natures living in us, one is sinful and the other spiritual.
Romans 8:5-11.
5” Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you.“
The mind of sinful person and the mind of spiritual person are completely opposite. Sin leads to death, away from God. A person controlled by Spirit will have eternal life and peace.
It is a matter of choice whom we allow to control us, especially when confronted with temptation. Will we be controlled by sin or by the Holy Spirit?
Imagine having a flashlight. Its purpose is to bring light in the darkness so we can see everything clearly and not fall as we move around. But what good is it to have a flashlight if we don’t turn on the power? We are going still to be in the dark even though we have a flashlight.
The Holy Spirit is our power, given to all who accepted Jesus. But the light needs to be turned on by daily communion with our living God.
“The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Gal 6:8
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