In yesterday's
devotional we looked at the need to choose life. Today we look at the
way in which we choose it. Paul wrote that God’s forgiveness for us
on the Calvary is the very the reason that we should choose life.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer
your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is
your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1, NIV).
Discipline begins with what God has given us—our own bodies. Each
day we move and make choices, each moment is a living sacrifice.
Sometimes we want to
be obedient, but still we can’t seem to surrender that one area
which plagues us. Yet, if we consider submission as an act of
worship, then the option of not submitting becomes blasphemous. When
we are obedient, daily decisions are born from our love for God. His
desire becomes more important than our desire, because He became a
living sacrifice for us. “You were taught with regard to your
former way of life,” Paul also wrote, “to put off your old self,
which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in
the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be
like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
When you are obedient to God's Word, you submit to Him and put on
your new self. You are renewed, changed, and transformed (Romans
12:2).
“You were created to
be holy like the Lord!” Paul continued. “So put on your new self”
(Ephesians 4:24). For our attitudes and our thoughts to be new—for
them to ultimately affect our actions—we must put on our new
spiritual self daily. True holiness is born because our minds are
renewed, and our hearts long to submit to the Lord. Our daily
decisions are born of this inner renewal. We can either say yes or no
to what we know is right. We choose blessing or curse by our
decision. Ultimately we choose spiritual death or spiritual life in
Jesus Christ. When we say yes, the Holy Spirit empowers our decision.
The daily habit of submitting to God, not only in prayer and study
but in thought and action, changes us. We become the new creature God
birthed in us at salvation.
“Take captive every
thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5b, NIV).
Surrender your mind to the Holy Spirit and a miracle occurs. The
battle to control the actions of your body, having already been won
in the spirit of your mind, becomes easier. You become dependent on
God's power instead of relying on your own ability. In “The
Prayer of Jabez”, Bruce Wilkinson writes, “God’s power,
under us, in us, surging through us, is exactly what turns dependence
into unforgettable experiences of completeness.” What makes
complete dependence upon the Lord an unforgettable experience? Our
willingness to submit our spirit to His Spirit and our actual
submission of mind and body to His Spirit, releases the power of the
Holy Spirit to “complete us”. You never forget when God makes
you whole!
Self-control is
really not “my” self-control. It is Holy Spirit control. God is
faithful to empower my hardest battle and yours, but we must allow
Him to make us whole by giving Him every aspect of our lives. When we
submit ourselves to be completed by Him, our greatest battle shall no
longer be ours. “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
through and through,” Paul exhorted. “May your whole spirit, soul
and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it” (1
Thessalonians 5:23-24, NIV). As
God changes us, we are made new in the attitude of our mind. The
ability to control ourselves is empowered by Him. Self-control truly
becomes His control.
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