Skip to main content

Gifts and Obligations



But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 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 through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will
                                                          live. (Romans 8:10-13)
 
      Imagine seeing on the news that someone has been given a million dollar grant to create a special piece of art. What would you think of that person if he spent the million on lavish parties for his friends involving all that activities that you happen to think are sick, disgusting, depraved and illegal? Would his statement that the money was given to him and therefore he had a right to do with it whatever he wanted be all the justification you need? Would you pay him in advance for anything?
      This is the situation in this passage. Christ dwells in Christians. His Spirit lives in us. He gives us life. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead gives us life. We have been given a magnificent gift. We did nothing to earn that gift, but now that we have it, we have an obligation to live in accordance with the purpose of the gift.
        This is always where the going gets tough. We all have misdeeds of the body. We all tend to be quick to excuse our body's misdeeds. It's genetic. It's just who we are. It's not our fault. It's socially acceptable now. Everybody does it. I don't like the idea of hearing "So what? It's a misdeed. Put it to death" about my not eating the way I should.  I know others don't like the idea of being told that about their sexual proclivities. I now giving up what we think is "natural" or "normal" isn't something we anticipate with joy. It's a battle that may continue for the rest of our lives.
 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On the Calendar:
President's Day
Susan B. Anthony Day
Birthday of
Galileo
Cyrus Hall McCormick (inventor and founder of the company that became International Harvester)      

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more