Watch over your heart with all diligence, from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23) The things that flow from our hearts they ultimately define our lives. If evil things come out of our hearts ,then our lives will flow with evil things. For the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) God knows man's heart, the motives behind everything we think, say, and do.
So circumcise [that is, remove sin from] your heart, and be stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) no longer. (Deuteronomy 10:16) God needs a circumcised heart. God searches the heart and rewards man, according to His conduct and what their deeds deserve.
God searches and examines the mind, He tests the heart to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. (Jeremiah 17:10) Sin begins in the mind of our heart. That battle is not will-power but the power of Christ living in us empowered by the Holy Spirit. What the Law could not do [that is, overcome sin and remove its penalty, its power] being weakened by the flesh [man’s nature without the Holy Spirit], God did: He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful man as an offering for sin. And He condemned sin in the flesh [subdued it and overcame it in the person of His own Son], so that the [righteous and just] requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us. We do not live our lives in the ways of the flesh [guided by worldliness and our sinful nature], but [live our lives] in the ways of the Spirit [guided by His power]. Those who who are living according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh [which gratify the body], but those who are living according to the Spirit, [set their minds on] the things of the Spirit [His will and purpose]. (Romans 8:3-5)
To focus our minds on the human nature leads to death, but to focus our minds on the Spirit leads to life and peace, the mind of the flesh [with its sinful pursuits] is actively hostile to God. It does not submit itself to God’s law since it cannot, and those who are in the flesh [living a life that caters to sinful appetites and impulses] cannot please God. However, you are not [living] in the flesh [controlled by the sinful nature] but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God lives in you [directing and guiding you]. (Romans 8:6-9)
Comments