Think back to a time when you made up your mind to do something even though you knew it wasn’t a good choice for your life. This might have been a major decision in your life or it could have been a simple everyday decision. Oftentimes, when we make up our minds to do something, whether that be something positive or negative, we become determined to carry it out and there isn’t much that can stop us from seeing it through. Our minds have a lot of control over our actions, and if our minds are not in line with God’s will and His Word, then our actions could be leading us down the wrong path. This path will lead us away from God and the good plans He has for our lives. This is why God’s Word cautions us that being carnally minded (living according to our flesh) is death, but being spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6).
Every decision that we make in our daily lives is determined either by our flesh (our natural minds) or our spirit. In order to live the life of peace that God wants for us then every decision that we make should be in accordance with the Holy Spirit that resides in us. God’s Spirit will always lead us to His will and purpose, but our flesh will lead us into gratifying our temporal desires. When we make up our minds to gratify our desires then we are living according to our flesh, and Romans 8:6 tells us that the mind of the flesh is death. This isn’t necessarily a physical death, but living according to our flesh separates us from God because God is Spirit (John 4:24) and the Spirit is the One who gives life (John 6:63).
Our minds are very powerful and our natural inclination, the way our mind has been programmed since birth, is to follow the sinful ways of this world. When our thoughts turn towards our fleshly desires and impulses and when we say yes to those desires in our minds, it becomes very difficult to remove those thoughts, and those thoughts will eventually lead to actions. We are the way we think (Proverbs 23:7). When we display selfish behavior, anger, bitterness, or anything similar we are choosing to be carnally minded over being spiritually minded. We may even know better in our hearts, we may have a feeling in our gut that something is amiss, but because our natural inclination is to carry out our thoughts, we make our minds up to live according to our flesh and we do those things anyway. The result is often regret, remorse, and condemnation.
Our natural body is dead because of sin, but through Jesus our mortal bodies have been brought to life through His Spirit who lives in us (Romans 8:11). In order for the Spirit to bring life, we have to renew our minds daily to the truth of God’s Word (Romans 12:2). Think about that, every decision that we make can have a positive outcome as we become spiritually minded through our knowledge of God’s Word. That is an awesome revelation. Every time we make up our minds to do something, no matter how big or small, when we check our decision against God’s Word we will be able to discern if it is God’s will or not. This is critically important because one leads to death and the other to life and peace. If we continually make decisions that are carnally minded then the door that Jesus has opened for us will eventually close and we will miss out on God’s best for our lives. God has set before us life and death and we must choose life (following Him) so that we can truly live. Make up your mind each day to live according to the Spirit and you will think about the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5). This will ultimately be the difference between life and death.
The Truth in Action: Our minds often control our actions and when we make up our minds to do something to satisfy our fleshly impulses and desires we are not choosing to live the life that God wants for us. We have an incredible opportunity to put down every thought that runs contrary to God’s Word. When temptation knocks at our door, when we feel the desire to do something that we know in our hearts is a bad decision, we can slam the door in its face by being spiritually minded. We must renew our minds to the truth of God’s Word and put to death those sinful desires. This takes effort though. We first have to recognize when we are being carnally minded and then we have to learn how to take those carnally minded thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:5).
Think about a time that you made up your mind to do something that you knew was carnally minded. What consequences did that decision have in your life? If you are still suffering negative consequences for that action, seek God, repent, and ask Him what you need to do to move forward.
Meditate on Scripture: Romans 6:9-11 (ESV) – We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Further Study: Read Romans chapter 8. As you read this chapter about life in the Spirit ask God to illuminate the truth of His Word in your heart.