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by Katie Erickson

“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. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs —heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:9-17)

This post is almost like a part 2 to my post from last week, since Paul is continuing with his thought from the previous passage here. So go check out that post to get the context of what I’m writing about today.

Which realm are you living in? If you follow Christ Jesus, you’re living in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit lives in every person who is a genuine follower of Christ. But, if you’re not living in the Spirit, then you’ll be condemned to death. We will all still die a physical death, regardless of if we’re following the Spirit’s ways or not. But when that physical death happens, whether you have the Holy Spirit in you or not will determine whether you receive eternal life or eternal death. Again, Paul is talking about this same contrast: the flesh brings death, but the Spirit brings life.

So what do we do about this? We need to put to our sins to death so we can have life. We will still sin while on this earth, but we cannot continue to live according to the flesh. The flesh disobeys God; that is its nature and its desire. We cannot live in disobedience to God if we claim to be His followers! It just doesn’t work. You can’t say you love eating chocolate but go out of your way to not eat it, it just doesn’t make sense. You can’t say you follow God when you aren’t obedient to Him.

We can’t stop sinning all by ourselves, but that’s where the power of the Spirit comes in. While we’re on this earth we will still sin, but we can make progress toward living a more Christ-like life.

If we make that choice and try our best to live in the Spirit, what does that get us? We get adoption as God’s children! Adoption is the same as being a biological child; adopted children have the same rights as biological children. These rights include the family inheritance. What do we inherit as children of God? Eternal life with God Himself! What could be better than that? This is why we strive to walk in the Spirit and try to live a Christ-like life, to receive the benefits God has promised us.

Now, don’t hear what I’m not saying; even when we mess up and disobey God, we can still receive the benefit of eternal life because of His grace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. When we have faith in Jesus, His sacrificial death and resurrection cover over all of our sins, as long as we repent of them. Because of what Jesus went through for us, we desire to turn from those evil ways and instead to live as He would have us live.

How are you living your life? Are you obeying the cravings and desires of your flesh, or are you living in the Spirit?

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