Devotion #3: Life and Death
Life and death are two things that every person is guaranteed to face. No matter our race, socioeconomic background, beliefs, or education, whether it be today, tomorrow, or 50 years in the future, one thing is certain: we all live and we all die.
As we continue our sermon series through the book of Romans, we come to Romans 8:9, which says, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Here, we see two things: the Spirit and the flesh. One gives life and the other leads to death.
When the Bible refers to “the flesh,” it is referring to our human nature, which is inherently broken and cursed with a sinful nature. This means our default setting is to do wrong. Psalm 51:5 (NIV) says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”
When the Bible refers to “the Spirit,” it is referring to the Holy Spirit, which is part of the Holy Trinity. He is the part of the Trinity that dwells in us after we accept Christ as our Savior.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what the Spirit and the flesh are, we can grasp what this passage is telling us. Verse 9 tells us that if the Spirit of God dwells in us, then we are not in the flesh. This means that when we allow the Spirit into our lives, we are freed from the absolute power and penalty of sin, which is separation from God. However, we still live in fleshly bodies, and sin still has power over our physical bodies, which is why physical death is not removed from the believer.
Romans 8:9 ends with, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” So, the question is, how do we obtain the Spirit? The answer is found in Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” When we follow Romans 10:9, we invite the Spirit into our hearts, allowing us to be in a relationship with God, pulling us away from the flesh that leads to eternal death and moving us to the Spirit, which brings eternal life.