Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

May 27, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: ROMANS 8

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

“TO BE CARNALLY MINDED IS DEATH”
This word “death” is literally, in the Greek, a noun and an adjective. It also means “deadly”. Carnally minded means to be “worldly” minded. Paul proclaims that to keep our minds centered on worldly things is a deadly mistake. It can literally kill. Kill what?

The love of the world can kill your “PEACE”. The Bible says, “great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them”. A Christian that is out of fellowship with God is offended by the smallest thing and seems to always be offended by something. God is the author of peace, but the “carnal mind is enmity with God”. Whenever a child of God lives in a worldly, flesh-controlled way, they always lose inward peace. They might tell you different but do not believe them. This verse says, “to be spiritually minded is life and peace”.

The love of the world can kill “POTENTIAL”. Numerous times have I seen individuals that God was using in a great way, so full of potential, that wasted it for some worldly pleasure or decision. Satan certainly strives to ruin the potential of our young people before they ever reach it. Satan will throw a lot of distractions in their way to do so, and the world and the things in the world, are his greatest tools.

The love of the world can kill your spiritual “POWER”. The more we give into the world, the less power we have against the world. The joy of the Lord is our strength. If we do not have spirit filled power in our Christian life, then we really have no power at all. Worldliness kills Spiritual power. Verse eight says “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

It is hard to keep our mind off the world when we are living in it. Today I encourage you, though you must live in the world, do not to keep your affection upon it. “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth”.