Follow God’s Instructions To Properly Assemble Your Life!
Word-of-the-Day: ‘(6) The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. (7) The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. (8) Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. (9) You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.’ (Romans 8:6-9)
Facts, not feelings, is what should guide the Christian and the American; unfortunately, we find ourselves in a world that places feelings over facts. A while back I was changing jobs and was leaving a position I held for some time for a new opportunity, and an Air Force officer I worked with closely, who I was able to have conversations of Faith with on occasions over the time spent working with her on working on the requirements of service delivery at a US military combatant command, gave me as a ‘parting gift’. It is a small desk plaque with the saying, ‘Let your heart fly, your heart sing, and your heart dance with the wind.’
I thought it was a nice gesture and I accepted it in gratitude. But the more I looked at, sitting on my new desk at my new position, I realized it was not a great Christian message as it was not one that encouraged living by the facts of the Word but encouraged living by the feelings of one’s self. I still have that little plaque on a shelf in my home office, as a reminder that not everyone who is Christian realizes or understands that while the sentiment of feelings is often pleasant and softening, it is also not true and goes against living in the Spirit.
Feelings are from our fleshy desires to feel good about ourselves, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Slogans are made to encourage and energize people, to feel good about themselves and who they are. Unfortunately, I have often found these encouraging slogans to have the opposite effect and suppress the efforts needed to accomplish tasks. This is especially true when the focus on one’s self opposes the efforts of the tasks necessary to accomplish the mission at hand.
We find today that many allow feelings of the flesh to control their initiative, and instead of completing tasks that are beneficial use their energy to betray the facts in front of them. Politically, we see destructive policies implemented that bring misery to the people, and often doubled down upon in an attempt to ‘fix’ the misery, which of course brings even more misery and eventually discontent. This comes from the ‘reprobate mind’; the belief that feelings can overrule facts. Facts are based in foundational truths, and often in physical, solid, and historical evidence.
Trying to change such facts through efforts based on feelings are fruitless, yet many try this approach. Paul saw this and in Romans 8 addressed that when people are driven by their reprobate mind to try to force efforts of feelings, they go against God and Truth; the facts of Creation and His Word. In Romans 8:6-9, Paul conveys this; living in the Spirit, and allowing it to govern or lead oneself will avoid the misery caused by living in the governance of the feelings, or the flesh. When we live in the flesh and feelings, we believe we know what is better for us than God does. When this happens, we begin to ignore God’s Word and His precepts and laws, basically throwing away His set of instructions and following our own.
God is the Creator, and we are His Creation. If we think of our lives as a piece of furniture that requires assembly, don’t you think God’s instructions should be followed to assemble our lives is best? When we don’t follow the instructions, we often find that there are extra pieces or parts that seem unnecessary, until we go to use the furniture and it falls apart. Our lives are the same; following the facts of properly assembling our lives according to God is much better than trying to do it ourselves.
Having God in control comes with His guarantee of ultimate success; Eternal life with Him. Failure to heed His instructions and His ways for our own ways lead to a life lost in despair, to be disposed of as unusable and rejected. The only fix is to go back and restart the process with His instructions and rebuild properly. Failure is eternal rejection by God; an eternity separated from Him in anguish and torment.
Do not allow yourself to be guided by feelings of the flesh that will lead you toward rejection, but instead follow the facts and of God’s Word that one can successfully build upon. Allow the facts to steer the use of feelings, which we all have, to produce Godly results complimenting His Word and Ways, and not be contrary to what He desires for us, to be Faithful worshippers for all Eternity with Him.
