NIGERIAN BAPTIST CONVENTION SEEK DAILY (NBC) Sunday, October 1 BE ALIVE

 

RBT: Malachi 1-4

Memory Verse: But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. Romans 8:10, NASB

Bible Text: Romans 8:5-11

8:5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 

8:6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 

8:7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 

8:8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 

8:9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 

8:10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 

8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

An unrepentant sinner may try to decorate his sinful nature, but eternal life is not a matter of character renovation. It is a life that is only accessible when one embraces the gift of salvation in Christ. Today's text affirms that the nature one possesses determines one's thought pattern, value system and behaviour. 

The primary problem with the sinful nature is that it lacks the power to please God and cannot submit to God's demands. Those living sinful lives will face God's judgment and eternal death. However, in Christ, Christians are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit gives eternal life and peace with God to those who give Him full control over their lives. The Holy Spirit in you makes you alive spiritually with the very life of God in you because of righteousness imputed to you by grace. Do you find it delightful or difficult to do what pleases God?

How you behave is due to the nature that controls your life. Why not give full control of your life to the Holy Spirit so that you can enjoy the fullness of life in Christ?

Insight: No modification of the old nature can produce eternal life in a man. Repentance does!

Prayer: I yield my life to the full control and sweet influence of the Holy Spirit.