So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Romans 8:6

How can we experience the new life we have in Christ? Once we have put our faith in him, how do we experience the abundant life he promises? There are many answers to these questions. We find new life in the Spirit, in the community of believers, and in the healing found in Christ.

Romans 8:6 gives another answer to the question of how we experience our new life in Christ. It’s a matter of how we think. According to this verse, we can think according to our sinful nature (literally, our “flesh”). Or we can think according to the Spirit. One leads to death; the other leads to “life and peace.”

How can we think according to the Spirit? We begin by realizing that our old ways of thinking, our old values and assumptions, are wrong. From God, through his Word, Spirit, and Church, we will learn to think differently. We will begin to see things in a new light. We will understand that God cares about all of life, not just the “spiritual” stuff. We will see people, not as tools for some project, but as precious beings created in God’s image. We will learn that truth isn’t something relative that human beings make up, but rather something that emanates from the very nature of God. And this is just the beginning. So if you want to experience the fullness of the Christian life, learn to think in the way of the Spirit.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What helps you to think in God’s way about reality? What keeps you thinking in old patterns? How might you see your work differently if you were thinking in the new way of God’s Spirit?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, though I’ve spent most of my life in relationship with you, and though I’ve spent countless hours studying your Word, I’m amazed at how much I still think according to my sinful nature. Yes, it does come naturally. That’s the problem. Forgive me, Lord, when my thinking is shallow, selfish, worldly, and downright erroneous.

Teach me, Lord, to think according to the Spirit. May I focus my mind upon you and your truth. May your written Word transform my thoughts. May your Spirit enliven the truth within me. May I find encouragement in the new life with my church fellowship.

Even today, as I think about my life, my work, and my part of this world, help me to set my mind on the Spirit, so that I might experience your life and peace. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.