This week at Advent the school is having Red Ribbon Week.  This is a national program to help stop drug use.  With the younger kids we focus on making good and healthy choices.  While this is an important lesson for children it continues to be an important lesson for all of our lives.  The Bible often speaks about it as the difference between living by the flesh and living according to the spirit.  Let’s look at one of those passages found in Romans 8.

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. 12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

In this passage Paul talks about what our minds are set on and how that affects how we live.  The thing is that this is not a one-time thing.  It can be an everyday battle in our lives.  It is like the person who is trying to cut out sugar who walks into the bakery and begins to smell and look at the delicious cinnamon rolls.  They are even offered a taste, which it would be rude to say no right?  We all know that they are probably going to cave and eat a cinnamon roll.  That person has their mind fixed on that. When our minds are fixed on God and His word we find it much easier to live by the spirit.  When we walk through life and just absorb whatever is thrown at us we can find our mind fixed on other things, things of the flesh.  Before long we can be making choices based on the flesh instead of the spirit.  Let’s declare a Red Ribbon Week for ourselves and focus on making good choices by living by the spirit.  Fix your minds on Jesus today through His word.  Listen to praise music in the car or as you exercise.  Listen to a sermon or podcast.  I bet that you will notice it to be much easier to live by the spirit when your mind is fixed like that. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave