To live according to the sinful nature is to live with minds set on what the flesh desires, but to live according to the Spirit is to live with minds set on what the Spirit desires (8.5). Setting on is to fix the direction or to aim. The first real question is therefore: 'What is the goal of our minds?' And in its simplest expression: 'What is the purpose of our life?' Is God at the center of our life, or I? Life in the Spirit of God is a perspective that always places God at the center of everything: Gott ist über alles. To tell you the truth: 'Anything that places God as the priority is always great and will never go wrong' (Prasadja, May 2011).
The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace (8.6). The second question on mind is therefore: 'How do we operate our mind? A mind controlled by the Spirit of God brings peace and life. It unifies, builds, edifies, strengthens, develops, bears fruits, regenerates, and brings life. The sinful mind breaks, destroys, devastates, weakens, provokes conflicts, kills, and ends in futility. The Spirit of God leads our minds to healthy relationship (with God, with others, with self and with the environment) ends in fruitful life. Our fleshly-self-ego sinful nature leads our minds to broken relationship ends in destruction and death. The idea brought up by Paul is not so much on direct actions producing peace or conflicts, but a state of mind and identity. According to Matthew 5.9, the peacemakers are the children of God. My simple logic might be wrong, but it should be not too far from the truth to say that the conflict-makers are therefore the children of the enemies of God. John 17 recognizes that through our unity, the world may believe in God who sent Christ Jesus (v. 21). Unity and peace seem to be two most important characteristics of Spirit-led-community of believers.
The sinful mind disobeys God and therefore is hostile to God. This evil mind is not compatible with the mind of God (i.e. failures of pleasing God; 8.7-8). The third question on mind is thus: 'To which party does our mind belong? Our mind's belonging determines our compatibility with God. Our service to God whatever perfect it is is futile when sinful mind operates. We may spend tons of energy in our ministry, without obedience however, we will not be able to please God. And I think it is fair enough to say that 'the worst tragedy in one's life regardless what his/her religious identity is is the incompatibility with God' (Prasadja, May 2011).
Readers, to what direction do you set on your minds, and how do you operate them in day to day life? And at the end of the day, we all need to ensure the compatibility of our minds in God's global economy!
Readers, to what direction do you set on your minds, and how do you operate them in day to day life? And at the end of the day, we all need to ensure the compatibility of our minds in God's global economy!
Paul seemed to obviously steer the discussion of 'life in the Spirit' to the battle of minds. Deeds are without doubt important, as 'Good
thought alone does not make us righteous, if it is not accompanied by
good deeds. Evil thought alone however is enough to make us unrighteous' (Prasadja, May 2011). As Jesus once also indicated in Matthew 5.27-30, the sins of adultery are most of the time executed not by our sexual organs, but by our minds (literally: eyes). In a totally different context and setting, Franklin D. Roosevelt once said 'Men are (not prisoners of fate), but only prisoners of their own minds' (brackets and italic are mine). The 'no condemnation' motif in Romans 8 by no means give us room to sin, but a strong encouragement to overcome our sinful nature and to win the battle of our minds.
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