Opening Prayer
Lord, come and dwell in our heart. Amen.
Text: Romans 8:5-11
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Devotion
No Christian can read this Bible passage without being moved by the living zeal for his own self-examination. If I am carnally minded, then my senses are dead; I live in enmity against God and in conflict with His Law. But if I am spiritually minded, then God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is in me, and Christ Himself is my life. No Christian can be indifferent to whether he is a child of death or life, whether God is his enemy or his friend!
But how can I know whether I am carnally minded or spiritually minded? “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.” Their thoughts and desires work against God and His Law; they have no sorrow or grief over sin; – and Jesus, the Savior of sinners, is a stranger to them; neither do they know His meek, holy, tender Spirit. The desire of the eyes, the desire of the flesh, and the arrogance of life fill their minds. Power, honor, riches, pleasure, or self-righteousness and praise for deeds are their concern. “But those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” For them God’s friendship and grace and the soul’s salvation are more important than everything else, so first and last that’s what they think about and care about. From the heart they humble themselves before God’s Law, feel that their flesh is evil and poisonous, and acknowledge that their life is sinful, so that they deserve death. But the Spirit of Christ in them works faith in His blood, so that they who are baptized into His death and resurrection always flee to Him at the cross and at the heavenly throne and receive grace.
If you in this way are subject to God’s Law and confess your sin with an upright heart, if Christ is your righteousness, then His death and resurrection are the basis for your hope. And if you love Him to whom you always pray for grace to do His will, then this is the work of His Spirit in you, and you are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. Now let the Spirit Himself give you assurance of this and grant you to taste the life and peace of grace! Don’t worry about how this miracle takes place that “Christ is in you,” but rejoice, and walk the way of self-denial with joy in His power. You no longer live according to the flesh, but indeed the flesh still lives in you; now you should feel its enmity against Christ and daily put it to death. – O how insignificant it seems to be a Christian, but how great it is: “Christ is in you, the hope of glory!”
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, deliver me from the deceit of the flesh, give me Your Spirit, and let me have no peace except in You. Come, Lord, make Your home in me, and let all my life become well-pleasing to You and the Father. Amen.
Hymn
The Holy Spirit Thou hast giv’n,
The wondrous pledge of love divine,
Who fills our hearts with joys of heav’n,
And bids us earthly joys resign;
O let His seal be on my heart,
O take Him nevermore away,
Until this fleshly house decay,
And Thou shalt bid me hence depart.
But ah! my coward spirit droops,
Sick with the fear that enters in
Whene’er a soul to bondage stoops,
And wears the shameful yoke of sin;
O quicken with the strength that flows
From out th’ eternal Fount of Life,
My soul half-fainting in the strife,
And make an end of all my woes.
I cling unto Thy grace alone,
Thy steadfast oath my only rest;
To Thee, Heart-Searcher, all is known
That lieth hidden in my breast;
Thy joy, O Spirit, on me pour,
Thy fervent will my sloth inspire,
So shall I have my heart’s desire,
And serve and praise Thee evermore.
Freylinghausen: Guddomsstraale, Himmellue L 443:3-5 tr. C. Winkworth;
tune: Evening Hymn (ELH 565); alternate hymn: Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go ELH 506