Today's Reading
In Ezra today, the people began to face opposition to rebuilding the Temple. It went on for years. Even though God orchestrated their return to The Land, the enemy was doing everything possible to keep them from completing their work. Life can be a struggle. Those who commit themselves to God end up on the winning side, though.
1 Corinthians: it's a mystery how people who are born again get awakened to the truths of God's Spirit. The Word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, is alive! We can squeeze God out, though, as it says in Chapter 3. The term "sinful nature" in this translation is really not accurate. The accurate word is "flesh." I like it from another translation which calls them people "of a secular mindset." What mindset do you have?
Psalms: when we walk with God, we must always be aware that some people will smile at our faces which looking for us to stumble.
Proverbs: we will never understand everything. We must learn to seek wisdom, yet move out in faith even when we don't have all the answers.
Your thoughts?
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My mind is far to secular. It's a fine line between being "in the world" vs being "of the world". Don't know about you, but I find myself behaving more secular than I'd like most of the time.
ReplyDeleteSam, I can't remember if I've asked this before, but could you explain the difference between the "flesh" and "sinful nature?"
ReplyDeleteChewie, I think we all struggle at times with being too secular in our mindset. I know I do. I have to ask God to forgive me and help me look at the world through the lens of Scripture.
ReplyDeleteRanelle, I will try to keep this short...
We are born sinners (Rom. 3:23, 5:12), meaning that our very nature is to sin. We are capable of doing "good things" but our hearts are wicked at the core. In Romans 6, Paul said, "our old self (our "sinful nature" was crucified with Him (Christ), in order that our body of sin (core wickedness) might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin..." Therefore, our "sinful nature" died with Christ on the cross. I believe that "dead means dead." Our old nature doesn't just rise up again.
On the other hand, we have the flesh (literal translation from the original). The flesh is our capacity to do bad things, even though we are now righteous at the core, rather than wicked. In Romans 7 (the schizophrenic passage [smile]), Paul said (verse 22), "For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man..." That means that we are changed at the very core of our being. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul wrote, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature..." Again, changed at the core.
Before Christ, it is our very nature to sin, but we can do good things. When we are born from God (John 3), our "sinful nature" dies and it becomes our very nature to be righteous, but we have the capacity (the flesh) to do bad things.
Does that help?
I love that explanation. . . thanks!
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