Verse of the Day 1/18

Romans 8:6  For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.   Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

For the past couple of days we've been considering what or who our minds are set on.  Our mindset will determine how we see things, as well as what we hear and will influence our actions.

 

In my devotions this morning, part of the Old Testament reading was in the book of Haggai 1 where the Lord of Hosts, through the prophet, challenged people then and now to "consider our ways", literally "set your heart on your ways".  It is a call for serious consideration for the direction of our lives, our choices and priorities.  All too often, left to our own devices, we will think mainly, perhaps exclusively of ourselves.

 

Pastor Rick Warren writes, "many people try to use God for their own self-actualization, but that is a reversal of nature and is doomed to failure.  You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for His purposes, not using Him for your own purpose.  The Bible says "Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life"  (Rom. 8:6 MSG).

 

The challenges from Haggai and Romans call for us to break free from our own ways and tendencies and turn our attention to God into "a spacious free life".

 

Blessings,
Mike
Follow the verse of the day at www.mikesvotd.blogspot.com

 

Romans 8:5-8 The Message (MSG)

^5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.