Live in the Spirit

"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as ransom for many." Matthew 20:28

Do you know what my single biggest problem is? Pride. It is my greatest weakness. I have always thought that I was smarter than most, stronger than the rest, and more capable than everyone. While others thought and debated, I knew what to do and did it. I knew that I was a little arrogant and self-righteous, but I told myself that, as far as flaws go, those ones aren't too bad.

I have always been a natural leader, and that was amplified several years ago when I was first given a leadership position in my job. By that point, I knew my pride was a serious weakness, but I thought that I was dealing with it. As you would guess, I was wrong, at least to a degree.

Pride is my besetting sin, as it is for many. So many times I had thought that I had beaten it, only to have it come waltzing back into my life when I least expect it.

"As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." Proverbs 26:11

We don't have to live like this, returning to our own foolishness every so often. It's our human nature. We find comfort in our old sins, even as our spirit is sickened by them.

"I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. I'm willing, but not doing what is right. I don't do the good things I want to do, but I do the evil I don't want to do. Now if I do what I don't want to do, it is no longer I who am doing it but sin living in me. So I find this to be a rule: When I want to do what is right, evil is there with me. In my inner being I delight in God's Law, but all through my body I see another law fighting against the Law in my mind and making me a prisoner to the sin ruling my body. What a miserable man I am! Who will rescue me from the body that brings me to this death? Thank God - He does it through our Lord Jesus Christ! So I serve the Law of God with my mind but the law of sin with my flesh." Romans 7:18-25

We have already been rescued from our sins, why do we keep going back to them? We aren't walking with God the way we should if these sins keep coming back on us.

"And so, fellow Christians, we don't owe it to the flesh to live according to the flesh. If you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you kill the activities of the body, you will live." Romans 8:12-13

Stop going back to your old sin. You don't have to live this way. I don't have to live this way. We overcome these sins by staying in the spirit.

Some days, on my way to work, I just know that it is going to be a bad day. You know what I do? I worship. I put music on in my car, and I sing to my Lord on my way to work. This doesn't change the bad things that are going to happen, but it changes my reaction to them. I stay with my Lord, humming along to whatever song stays in my heart. You don't have to live in the flesh. I don't want to live in the flesh. I want to be free of this carnal prison. Fight to be free.

"But in all this He Who loved us helps us to win an overwhelming victory." Romans 8:37

Sam