I was later than I intended to be to the office this morning. I was GOING to leave the house 5 minutes late, as I had finished up a family Bible Study with my wife and the boys, but then I caught two of them fighting over a book they had been reading together. The eldest had wanted to finish it first, but it was his brother who had started the book first. So we talked about the greatest commandment: I made him repeat it to me; to “you shall love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, all of your soul and all of your mind,” and the second which, Jesus said, is just like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-40). I then asked my eldest son, “Where do you line up in all of that?”
Oddly enough, I was talking with someone earlier in the morning to whom I give account, and we were talking of the nature of sin. I had told him that when I sin, whatever that sin may be, I’m usually in a place of arrogance. I say, “I got this” and that is when I lose my temper, or dive into self-love, or ignore my duties before God. On the other hand, when I humble myself, God becomes the first and foremost of all things, and everyone else goes before me. And this is the opposite of what the world, and even some in Christ’s Church teach. I’ve heard it said, again and again “you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else.” Yet if the law and prophets hinge on placing God and the needs of others before myself, then I must take that advice, regardless of how well intended, as worldly. This does not mean I foolishly say “yes” to everything, but this means that I submit my will to the Father, and serve where I am called.
Loved ones, there is always a proper order to things. God is a God of order. And we are most at peace when we love Him with all of our heart, mind and soul. Why? Because He designed us, He created us, and He knows exactly who we are and what we need. I become most miserable when I choose my self over everyone and everything else. But in submission to God’s will, I have peace, because, rather than me being responsible for the outcomes, He is, and I have freedom to operate in His will, which is so much bigger than my comprehension. We are most miserable when our lives are out of order. Submit to God’s will, serve others, and watch as joy and peace which surpass understanding follow you everywhere, even in dire situations.
Romans 8
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
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. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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