“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.”
(Romans 8:12 NLT)
The old sinful nature is a slave driver, a drill sergeant. It demands obedience. It uses the desires and longings of the body and soul to shout at us. It drives us with cravings, lusts, and fear. The flesh screams in our minds that we must give it what it desires. And it makes us fear that if we don’t satisfy its demands we’ll never be happy, safe, fulfilled, or whatever.
We’ve been so conditioned to listen to the sinful nature’s demands that obedience to it has become reflexive. But, when we give our lives to Christ, He sets us free from our old taskmaster. Instead, He gives us a new nature and empowers us with His Spirit. He emancipates us from the sinful nature’s spirit of slavery and gives us the Spirit of sonship (Rm. 8:15).
The key to victory is to be led by the Spirit of God instead of driven by the flesh. We are no longer under obligation to obey the sinful nature. It is no longer our master or our sergeant. The Spirit of God within our spirit doesn’t shout out demands. He gives us new desires. By Him we cry out, “Abba (Daddy), Father!” (Rm. 8:15b).
The deepest desires of our new nature, our spirit, is to be with, walk with, fellowship with, and to please our Heavenly Father. Why? Because that’s what the Holy Spirit that lives in our spirits wants! We simply have to learn to keep in step with Him (Gal. 5:25).
To keep in step with the Holy Spirit, we must ignore the shouts and demands of the flesh (we are no longer obligated to obey that old master), and learn to march to the cadence of the Holy Spirit’s voice. When we step in time to the rhythms of His grace we find we’re putting to death the deeds of the old nature. This is because we are finding life following the Spirit of the Living God. And, this Living God just so happens to be our Daddy.
© Paul R Downing, Daybreak Devotions