10/4 Spiritual minded?

Romans 8

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” (v. 5)

How important is the mind in our Christian walk? Very much so. If we are carnal (earthly) minded, then we will seek after earthly things, and our attention will be in that direction. We try not to emphasize this too much at first, lest we be accused of having a works doctrine, but we are to be renewed daily in our minds by the Word of God. (Rom. 12:2). The understanding is essential to serving the Lord, and even important in receiving Him as our Savior, but understanding is not everything, it merely points us in the right direction. Our text verse tells us that we will “mind” what our minds are filled with, whether it is the things of the world, or the things of God. That choice is all up to us. Though we are not to judge anyone, we can often discern between the true and the false by this very thing, do they seek after the things of the flesh, or the things of the Spirit? We really need to look inward, and ask ourselves do we seek after the pleasing of the flesh, or do we desire to please the Lord in all that we do? The next verse tells us the danger of the carnal mind, and distinguishes between the living and the dead, (v. 6). This theme is paramount throughout the Scriptures, and may well be the central theme for Christians. Our Lord tells us in Galatians, that if we walk after the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). Our concern is, will we live after the flesh or after the Spirit?

The eighth chapter of Romans is the “Holy Spirit” chapter of the Bible. It is an encouragement to understand, and walk in the Spirit of God, and to live in a manner that is pleasing to Him. More so, it is to admonish us to be that spiritual person that the Lord would have us to be, after all, we are being conformed to the image of His Son, who is the epitome of the Holy Spirit also (8:29). As we read through the chapter, we see that the flesh cannot please God in itself, (v. 8), and that if we have Christ in us we also have this great Holy Spirit abiding within (vs. 9, 10); then we see again that to live after the flesh is futile, and leads to only death. (v. 13). It is easy to see that the Lord would like us to seek after the spiritual, and not the carnal things of this world; even more than that, He would prefer us to be spiritual and not carnal in our every day lives. This is not impossible for us to attain to, else he would not have emphasized it so strongly in His Word.