Chapter 2
Can we stop doing what we don’t want to do?
Yes, when we learn to rely on the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8:4, Paul introduced his readers to the idea of following the Spirit instead of our sinful nature. This is vital, but what does it mean to live by the Spirit?
Focus on what the Spirit desires.
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting the sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) (8:5–9).
According to Paul, everyone is controlled… by something. He gives us two options: controlled by the Spirit or by the old nature—either on the road that leads to life and peace or on the road that leads to death. Walking in step with the Spirit means living with him in control.
Perhaps you can already see the difficulty here. It doesn’t take long to realize many of our decisions don’t seem to reflect the control of the Spirit.If we received Jesus as our Savior, our bodies became temples of the Holy Spirit (1 corinthians 6:19). We are grateful to be delivered from the tyranny of sin and death. However, we continue to have problems—with ourselves. Some of our old ways still keep us from being and doing who we know we ought to be and what we ought to do. So how do we live under the Spirit’s control? How do we stop doing all those things we don’t want to do, but can’t seem to stop?
Consciously yield to the Spirit. Over and over, writing to people in all sorts of different circumstances, Paul stressed the necessity of yielding ourselves to God. He urged us to consider ourselves dead to our old way of life and to offer every part of our lives to God (romans 6:11–14). We must remember that we are under new management—no longer “slaves of sin” but set free and now “slaves to righteous living” (6:15–23). When Paul wrote that the Ephesians should not get drunk, but to “be filled with the Holy Spirit” (ephesians 5:18), he echoed this same theme: yield to the Holy Spirit; consciously and continually give him control of every area of life. As we do this, our lives will be marked by his fruit—“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (galatians 5:22–23).
It’s highly unlikely that we’ll ever be perfectly satisfied with ourselves. Many people, well down the road in knowing and understanding Jesus know that the more we become like Jesus, the more aware we are of our many imperfections—and the more we are frustrated by them.
And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you (ROMANS 8:10–11).
Living in step with the Spirit is taking the path to life and peace—temporarily on earth, forever in heaven.
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