Get Started on the Spirit Controlled Life

Get Started on the Spirit Controlled Life

Friday, April 8, 2016

Jeff Lampl

Guess who has a problem with self-control? 

His name is Paul and he wrote a big hunk of the New Testament.   Listen to what he wrote!

“I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help!  I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it.  I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway.  My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. 

It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up.  I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. 

I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?”    Romans 7:17-25 (MSG)

Paul admits to being controlled by his desires instead of being controlled by the Holy Spirit!

So, did Paul ever get to the point where he was actually Sprit-controlled rather than living in the desperate futility of trying and failing, trying and failing, and then trying once more, only to fail again?   What is he saying here?

He’s saying that on its own, self is too weak to exercise the kind of self-control that we need.   That’s good news, at least to me.   Right now I’m a mess now that my regular exercise routine has been interrupted for months.   I’m also eating too much.   I identify with Paul.  

So, what’s the answer?  What does he say right after he confesses his helplessness?   He gives us the first step in living the spirit controlled life.  It begins what many consider the greatest chapter in the Bible (Romans 8).

            “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”  Romans 8:1.

Do you know what to do if you are sinking in quicksand?  Stop struggling, stop moving and float.  The more you struggle, the more you sink.  Ever felt that way?

Paul says, in effect, stop!   And know these two things.   “The Holy Spirit has set you free from sin and death” (Ro. 8:2) and “letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace” (Ro.8:6). 

In other words, if you struggle with self-control, the place to begin is in silence where you can hear, really hear, “there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus” and where you can pause long enough to reflect on your need for God, and finally where you have paused long enough to absorb, really take in, the reality that God’s spirit is available to you if you only slow down long enough to notice, and live your day aware enough to appropriate the Spirit’s grace and power.   

I can’t image a better starting point for leading the spirit-controlled life than to spend big hunks of time reading and meditating on Romans 8.  In other words, read it until you “get it”.  

“Lord, I want to experience the spirit controlled life.  I am so very weary of the exhausting results of my attempts to live a satisfying self-controlled life.   Lord, I’m ready, be with me and open my eyes as I dive head first into the riches of Romans 8.  Amen”

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