"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
Romans 8:5-9
This is interesting. We all want life and peace rather than death, so good things to keep in mind, but I think also hard to get the hang of. We need a lot of practice to get out of the habit of focusing on the flesh and catering to our bodies and instead learn, or re-learn, how to rely on the spirit. We've never had bodies before, and that "carnal mind" is always crying out for something... you know, cookies, bacon... and of course other more serious things that can destroy our lives if handled incorrectly. If we put the spirit first it doesn't mean destroying our bodies, but rather bridling and training them to serve our true spiritual selves rather than letting our physical needs/desires drown out our spiritual sensibilities.
The key here is putting God first, and learning from him how to satisfy our physical needs in righteous ways, and never letting the "carnal mind" rule us. Even bacon and cookies can become evil if the desire for them is in charge, and becomes our top priority, drowning out more important things.
Today, let's take this idea seriously and examine our lives, figure out where we are letting our bodies rule our lives, and work on making our spiritual selves more prominent, working towards that life and peace that God can lead us to, rather than the death that our bodies will lead us to, if we let them be in charge.
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