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Set Your Mind on the Spirit | Meditation for Clarity
Looking for clarity about what to do, say, or even think? This epi… (visit YouTube for more)
Transcript
Do you feel like you need clarity in your life, my friend? What to do, what to say? Maybe even what to think. Well the Apostle Paul has some great advice that we are going to meditate on today in Romans chapter eight, verse five.
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.
As we meditate on this passage, we are gonna use three questions to help us in that meditation. The first question is, what is the main theme of this passage? This passage dwells on the difference between our focus on flesh versus spirit, on things of the earth versus things of God.
What is the difference here? This is not to say that everything on this earth is evil. No, this is to say that what are we making the main thing, what is our highest priority? God is spirit. God is perfect. Whereas things of our flesh are fallen and lead us into sin.
So Paul wants us to make sure that our mind is set first on God’s kingdom, on the things of God. If we spend a lot of time and effort worrying about things that are earthly, how we look, how we’ll live, what job we’ll have, what car we buy, none of these things are bad in themselves, but if we make them our first priority, we will be drawn away from the things of God, the things that matter eternally. So Paul’s main theme here is to make sure that our focus is directed correctly.
The second question for meditation, what does this tell me about God?
God is spirit, and this is a little bit hard for us to understand, we who experience life so much in a physical way. It takes time, it takes a lifetime for us to become more in touch with the spiritual reality of life.
God has to be spirit because God is omnipresent, he’s everywhere, and he’s omnipotent, he’s all powerful. He exerts power over all of this material creation, so he has to be above it and outside it. And as spirit, that’s how that is possible for him.
We also learn that God has different priorities to us. We do have to spend some time thinking about what we’re going to eat, where we’re going to spend the night safely. And yet the scripture tells us that God is concerned about these things on our behalf. If we put first the Kingdom of God in our priorities, then he says these things are added to us.
God cares about us. As a being who is spiritual and who is completely loving, God cares.
We are told that God knows the ultimate purpose of creation. He knows what we are here for, and we can slot in with that purpose. We can be most fulfilled when we align ourselves to spiritual matters, to the things of God.
I think we could meditate on this point for a lot longer than this, but we’re gonna move on to question three. What questions does this passage raise?
For me, this passage is asking of me, what am I, Rob, personally going to do? How am I going to decide to spend my time and my energy?
The passage raises questions about what is the flesh, what is the spirit? And we have to look a lot further than this one verse to find some of the answers to that.
This passage raises the question, how do we live according to the Spirit? What does it mean to set our minds on the things of the Spirit? And again, this is one of those things that takes a lifetime of study to understand.
This passage begs many questions of us. Will we as people who have committed our lives to Jesus, be those who no longer live according to the flesh? Who live according to the Spirit, who are dwelling on the things of the spirit?
Do we, throughout our day, throughout the 16 or so hours that we are conscious, do we bring to mind first the things of God in all aspects of our life? Whether we’re doing the dishes or our work, or studying, whether we’re doing shopping, whether we’re looking after family members, do we set our minds on things of the Spirit first? If we do that, we will start to see more and more beauty in all of the things that God calls us to do and in this world that he has given us to be stewards of.
Let’s close in prayer.
Lord God, as we reflect on this scripture, you know that we find it hard to set aside the things of the flesh in order to live by the Spirit. I ask that you help us. I thank you that you’ve given us tools at our disposal to help us in this, and most importantly, the Holy Spirit who is leading us on in the things of the Spirit.
Thank you that we can ask this of you. Thank you that you are already doing it.
Please forgive us, Lord, when we put too much importance, too much significance on the things of the flesh. Amen.
