Reading: Romans 8:5-12
Reflective Thoughts
Control
When I was young, my spiritual teachers were Saturday morning Looney Toons. Whether, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, or Daffy Duck, someone would need to make a decision between the advice of an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. What they did was largely determined by whom they chose to listen to. If only it were so easy.
Paul describes making the right choices in a different way. When we were saved, we received a new nature. It resides alongside the old one. We also received the Spirit of God. The old nature wants to do whatever it pleases, and the new nature wants to do what pleases the Spirit. Doing the right thing isn’t just a matter of choosing between good and bad voices. Doing the right thing is a matter of choosing who we allow to control us. In fact, we’re told that it is our “obligation” to be controlled by the Spirit and not the old, sinful nature.
This morning, if you are a believer, you have as much of the Spirit of God in you as you will ever have. The question is, how much of you does He have?