Setting your Mind

Romans 8: 5-8

I’m fearful that we are living in a time where those who challenge our beliefs become our enemies.  If that were true with me I would be very lonely for most everyone that I know has challenged me to look deeper, to revisit what I believe and I am personally thankful to each of them.  King Solomon gives us this counsel, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” (Proverbs 11:14)  Back in my early thirty’s my life was in a mess and for a while I lived with Ronnie Dickson, now at that time Ronnie was not into church but one day I said something and his reply was “I thought you were a Christian, that sure does not sound like one.”  Thank you Father for a friend like Ronnie, and since moving to the hill country I’ve gotten to know an old high school friend, who loves to pull my chain and anyone else that he cares about.  Buddy and I had this confrontation going over what people do in the name of Christ, and I was totally missing the point, that is until he sent me this quote from Blaise Pascal, “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”  The light came on and I understood we were not in disagreement, religions end game is death, and it was very religious men who condemned Jesus and men are still doing all kinds of evil in the name of religion.

So I’ve become a fan of Blaise Pascal, and today with the backdrop of Romans 8:5-8, let’s give thought to this quote: “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.”  So are the shadows your problem, have you removed the light source of faith, have you allowed the world to mold you into a belief system that has its origin in darkness?

Maybe the apostle John can help with the shadows; “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:17-21)

Flesh loves the shadows, and I believe the Scripture is clear that religious flesh dwells there.  So that brings us to Roman 8:5-8, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Colossians 3:2, tells the following about setting our minds; “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”  God has given us the ability to set our minds on what we desire, and we know that it is a battle that takes place each day with the flesh and the Spirit.  The shadows or the light it has always been a choice.  My prayer is that you and I are aligning our lives on the truths of God’s Word.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice