Wednesday 15 May 2013

Wednesday Reading: Romans 8:1-8

Key Verse: Romans 8:7
7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Devotion:
One thing I have learned as I grow in Christ is that the world does not truly convict you of anything other than worldly laws and lusts; but the Word of God will convict you of so much more from the inside out. The more that I walk with Christ the more that I realise that I do not have to be a part of this world and its ways, instead I can live my life according to God and His ways. This sets me apart from the world so that I do not have to fell condemned with this world any longer.

We have the choice as to whether we walk with The Spirit or whether we walk with the world. When we choose to walk with The Spirit we can bathe in the fruits of The Spirit in that we will find joy and peace and will be able to separate ourselves from the carnal ways of man. But when we try to go our own way and fight our own fights we very quickly find that we fall into the same traps as the rest of man and we go back to our old earthly ways instead.

God’s law gives us the wisdom to be able to follow God’s will, not just in our outward ways and duties, but with our inner most feelings and obedience toward God; we are given the strength to follow God’s ways. When we then remember what Christ has done for us, the price that He willingly took on His own shoulders for us, we can begin to see why He hates sin so much. That should drive us forward with The Spirit and away from the ways of the world.

The more that we think of the ways of the world, the more that we will be trapped by those same ways and thoughts. The more we go there, the more we should realise that those ways lead to the same death and destruction that we see throughout history. Christ showed us that the ways of the world lead to death and destruction and He was willing to take on that death to free us from that condemnation. But in order to be freed from that condemnation we have to take on the ways of The Spirit and walk a closer and more sincere walk with God. We cannot walk in the ways of the world and hope to be walking with God because they are different sides of the coin!

Points to Ponder:
Do you walk in the worlds ways?

Do you seek God’s ways?