Rather, clothe
yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify
the desires of the flesh.
In the instruction above, Paul seems to stop the train
before it even leaves the station. He instructs the Roman people to not even
think about how they might sin…to not even conjure up ideas of how they might
satisfy their sinful nature. It’s like Paul starts from an earlier step in the equation
of sin and tells the people in Rome to not even entertain ideas of how they
might sin. I can appreciate that, for it’s safe to say that most of our sins
originate with an idea that we have on how we might sin. It’s like Paul is
trying to address the illness from its very beginning, instead of just focusing
on preventing the outcomes of the illness. In the paragraph where this was
included, Paul is instructing the people to stop sinning for the time of their
salvation is fast approaching. He states in verse 11…“because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed”…and
in verse 12,…”The night is nearly over;
the day is almost here.” Paul understood the gravity of the situation…it
was either faith in Christ and you receive salvation…or continue down a
misguide, unrighteous path and you receive a never-ending spot in hell. I don’t
know whether Paul’s urgency was fueled by the belief that Christ was going to return
as promised very soon or that their lives were brief and that death could be
just around the corner. But either way, Paul seemed to understand the importance
of faith in Christ and living a life that proclaims that faith in Christ. It’s
as if he were saying “Stop messing around, time is short, make sure there is no
doubt about your salvation.” But Paul doesn’t just say “get it right” and leave
the Romans on their own to figure out how, but rather he begins by providing a
means to avoiding sin, in saying “clothe
yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, immerse yourself in
your faith…surround yourself with God’s Word…drink in the Lord’s instructions…make
it a part of your everyday routine so that your mind will be fixed upon the
things above. Your mind will be fixed upon things that are pleasing to the
Lord. And when the mind is fixed on righteousness, the fruits of our words and
actions won’t be rotten and unwholesome. We will still mess up at times, but we
are going to get it right more times than not if our thoughts are focused on
pleasing God, and not ways that we might please ourselves. May we seek today to
keep our minds on serving the Lord, making no time to think up ways that we
might gratify our sinful nature. To God alone be the glory!
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