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So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:12-13) This Apostle Paul draws a conclusion here based on the preceding passage, which begins with the declaration that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ and that we have been freed from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). That is quite a declaration of freedom. Now we have this conclusion that we are debtors. If we are free, what are we debtors to? At some time or other, most of us have gone into debt for a home, a vehicle, a business, etc. We have taken on this debt because of our choices, both good and bad choices. We are familiar with the impact debt can have on our lives and prospects for the future. The same is true spiritually; the choices we make have consequences. The freedom we have in Christ is not liberty to do whatever we want. Rather, in Christ we are free to serve something other than the lusts of our old, sinful nature. So, to what then are we debtors? But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code (Romans 7:6). We are debtors to Grace, to live a life of holiness, a life that is being conformed to His image and purpose. Paul would later amplify this point in Romans 12:1 when he wrote I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Paul is not offering an option here of the best way to follow Christ. This is a command for every believer to, by the power of the Spirit, crucify the deeds and lusts of the flesh and follow Him with our whole being. The hymn writer Robert Robinson captured this idea perfectly when he penned these words in “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Oh, to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be! Let that grace now, like a fetter, Bind my yielded heart to Thee. In Christ you are free. How are you walking in that freedom? By Jesse Smith

“You are not of the world…” (see John 17:14-17) “It’s when we go deeper that we go higher. What the vision is, his Kingdom instead of my empire, his will over my desires, his lordship over what I believe the industry requires. It’s an upside-down Kingdom, and we go higher when we go deeper – deeper than the world’s metric for success, where the culture would rather keep people impressed with the superficial, obsessed with what is temporal, stressed over gaining material wealth, and settling for less than what is eternal. We are called to go deeper.” These words were delivered by Spoken Word artist Jarrel Flowers at a recent Christian business leadership conference. His message was a convicting and hope-filled call to action, reminding marketplace leaders that their work is not secular or second-class, but sacred. Romans 12:2 (MSG) echoes this truth: Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. It shouldn’t be a surprise that world systems are rapidly shifting, and the pressure to ‘go-with-the-flow’ is rising. Yet, as followers of Christ, we are not called to conform but to stand apart, just as Jesus did. The apostle John exhorted early believers overwhelmed by worldly challenges with these words, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world (1 John 2:15-16 NIV). Daniel 3 tells us that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship the golden image King Nebuchadnezzar set up, declaring: “But even if he [God] does not [deliver us] , we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:18). Can we be bold enough to speak these words to the gods of our culture that so easily entangle us? Friends, we have been redeemed to live differently, set apart for Kingdom impact and God’s glory. As 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV) reminds us, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Let us not forget this truth about Christ followers as we navigate the pressures of our culture: we are not just ordinary men walking the face of this earth, but we are ones donning priestly garments and called to be countercultural for Christ! By George Donkor George and his wife, Christiana, are proud parents of Annajoy and Elijah. They love serving Jesus together and showing Him to the world around them.

This week we are in Romans 8:1-11. I have noticed that if there is a local news story about a house fire, I immediately try to figure out what street I am looking at on the screen. Sometimes I’ll even miss important details such as whether anybody was injured while I’m trying to figure out how close the fire was to our house. I already know that there was no fire on my street that day, so why am I distracted trying to figure out whether this awful event happened close to me? The same phenomenon applies to other events as well. Tornado damage in my own state tugs harder at heartstrings than damage multiple states away. Even a disaster in a faraway place I’ve visited hits harder than a disaster in a place I have not been. Why is that? If I’m honest, one reason for this is simple selfishness. Sure, it’s a tragedy, but how does this situation affect me? A more charitable reason could be that I get more emotionally involved if I might be close enough to know somebody affected and/or possibly help in some way. But what about a news story that is far away in both time and distance, yet still very close to home? Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:10-11 HCSB) The resurrection of Jesus is the most powerful and impactful news event in history. It happened about two thousand years ago on a different continent. I have caught myself sometimes thinking about events in the Bible and that if I had witnessed some of Jesus’s miracles myself, I would be a much more “energetic” Christian. But I am missing something important in that line of thinking. The disciples lived daily with Jesus. They spoke with Him, caught fish with Him, ate with Him, walked with Him, and prayed with Him. But despite these very personal experiences, they didn’t truly become “energetic” Christians until the Holy Spirit came to be with them. What fully made Jesus’ love for them personal is available to, and inside of, you and me today. Let’s not simply remember and reflect on this story from a distance. Let’s live it. By Mark Stuart Mark is the husband of Laura, father of Shelby and Jacob (Bailey), and grandfather of Charley.

This week we are in Romans 8:1-11. Years ago, I was driving through unfamiliar territory and mostly relying on Google maps to get me where I was going. I was on a mostly rural highway which I knew should take me to a right-hand turn onto a second highway. A couple miles from my anticipated turn, my phone told me to take a right. It didn’t feel correct, but I followed the app. I spent the next ten minutes on a road across which you might expect to find a shepherd leading a flock of sheep and eventually turned right onto the anticipated second highway. What I later discovered was that my app was set to prioritize routes that maximize fuel economy, and apparently this ten minute “shortcut” through the countryside at twenty-five miles per hour did just that. I gained a few cents in gasoline in return for quintupling my risk of colliding with livestock. Everything worked out OK, but the lesson here is that we often face a choice between two paths; and while sometimes the decision is trivial, other times it most certainly is not. For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 HCSB) What’s described here are literal choices between life or death, Spirt or flesh, obedience or defiance. While those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus made that very important decision one very important time, we still must continue choosing what path we’re following every day. I allow myself to get stressed by the busyness of a workday without consideration of what path I’m walking. I don’t have a mindset of life and peace. I’d be better served to call timeout when I feel this way, take a deep breath, and pray for help in returning to the right path. I have learned now that before I take a long trip, I should double-check the settings on my app to ensure I will follow the path I want. Before walking into a difficult situation, I need to get better at checking the settings of my heart. The mind-set of the flesh is death. The mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. By Mark Stuart Mark is the husband of Laura, father of Shelby and Jacob (Bailey), and grandfather of Charley.

This week we are in Romans 8:1-11. One of my very favorite movies is The Shawshank Redemption . In addition to the shocking and famous plot twist I won’t spoil here, I love how the movie portrays people and relationships and motivations. (Public service note: this is a very gritty prison movie, so please do not go watch it without being fully aware of what you’re doing.) In the movie there is a character named Brooks who, by the time we meet him near the end of his fifty years in prison, has become a kind, gentle, old man who pushes a cart from cell to cell offering books to his fellow inmates who love him. Brooks learns he is going to be paroled and instead of being overjoyed he starts acting erratic and lashing out, which confuses some of his friends. Later these friends are discussing his behavior in the prison yard, and the wisest character explains to the others that the reason why Brooks is troubled by his imminent parole is that he’d become “institutionalized” which he described like this: “This is all he knows. In here he’s an important man. He’s an educated man. Outside he’s nothing. Just a used-up con with arthritis in both hands. Probably couldn’t get a library card if he tried… I’m telling you these walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized.” Over time Brooks had grown so comfortable in his confinement that freedom terrified him. Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4 HCSB) Sin’s power over us has been broken, but if we’re not careful we can live as though we’re still under its control. Our prison doors have been destroyed but we remain in our cell with our familiar companions: guilt and shame. It was sin that was defeated. We’ve been paroled. Let’s go outside. By Mark Stuart Mark is the husband of Laura, father of Shelby and Jacob (Bailey), and grandfather of Charley.

This week we are in Romans 8:1-11. I have never been much of an aggressive driver, but I for sure have slowed down as I’ve aged. Part of it is a natural decline in reflexes, and part is that I don’t feel much in a hurry anymore. And part is the realization that if I’m driving slower than most people around me, very seldom is anybody in my way. But there was a time long ago when I was returning to college and failed to see a school zone sign and was rightfully ticketed for speeding. The heart races when those flashing lights appear in the rearview mirror. This happened in a town so small that when approaching it from the 55 MPH zone on one side of the town, one could see clear through to the 55 MPH zone on the other side of town. This event rattled me as a teenager for quite a while, but with time I put it behind me and moved on. For sure some mistakes are bigger than others and harder to forget, but as Christians we are taught to move on. Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:1-2 HCSB) To be sure, being free of the eternal consequences of our sins does not mean it was good that we committed them in the first place, nor is it a free pass to do whatever we want in the future. And the freedom from eternal consequences does not mean that mistakes we make won’t have immediate consequences, as evidenced by my humble college bank account after paying for that speeding ticket. We should always be on the lookout for the warning signs telling us to change our behavior and attitudes, but sometimes we’re going to mess up either by accident or willful disobedience and need to seek forgiveness from a God willing to grant it to the repentant. And then it’s time to start looking out the windshield again instead of the rearview mirror. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:6 HCSB) By Mark Stuart Mark is the husband of Laura, father of Shelby and Jacob (Bailey), and grandfather of Charley.