-By Gavin Aleogho
“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God”. Romans 8:8
Although we are in this world, we don’t belong here. We are heavenly citizens of the Kingdom of God’s Son. We must never loss focus of this. The moment we start setting our gazes on the things of this world, we automatically loss our gaze of eternity and become carnal and start living for the Flesh. And according to Romans 8:8, you can’t please God in that state.
The fact that we confessed Jesus Christ as Lord is not a guarantee that we are going to escape the condemnation that is going on in the world and the condemnation at the end of this age. We can only escape when we live according to the dictate of the Spirit not according to our carnal nature.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit”. Romans 8:1.
To live according to the carnal nature is to live according to the signals we get from our sensual organs. That is, living by what we see, smell, ear, sense or test. While to live according to the spirit is to live your life in accordance with the word of God through the help and leading of the Holy Spirit - obeying the Lord all the way. It is better to respond according to the leading of God’s Spirit than by our senses. This is the high life that we have been called to live!
If we must live up to our maximum potential as people who have Christ living in them, we must quit living by the dictates of our flesh, the media and the world, to living according to the leading of God’s spirit as spelt out in the Word of God.
It is up to you to make a choice to either live a carnal life or the life of the Spirit. You can achieve the later simply by setting your gaze, that is, minding the things of the spirit while giving less or no attention to the things of the flesh.
“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit”. Romans 8:5 NLT.
“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, the things of the Spirit”. Romans 8:5 NKJV.
Romans 8:5 implies that when you think, meditate, look, desire or mind the things of the Spirit, that is, things of the Kingdom of God and His righteous, you will start becoming more spiritual and less carnal.
