Living to love with Jesus is life and peace.

Romans 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, I hope you remember that a couple of days ago we discovered that the term law entails the concept of parceling out or assigning. God gave the flesh an assignment: to be weak and enslaved to sin and death. He never intended the flesh to be able to bear fruit for the glory of God. As Paul put it in Rom. 3:21. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The mind set on the flesh, the desires of the natural mind, or as John put it in 1 John 2:16 the mind set on “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” is death. In this verse, although setting the mind on the flesh does produce death, Paul wasn’t saying that it results in death. He said it is death. It’s what death looks like. It’s impossible to love others in the power of the flesh. All fleshly efforts are death. In stark contrast is the mind set on the things of the Spirit. Likewise, although the Spirit of Christ does produce life and peace, Paul wasn’t saying that the Spirit produces life and peace in this verse. He was teaching that the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. A person who has life and peace is a person whose mind is set on the Spirit. This is very close to what Paul wrote to the Colossians in 3:1-4 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” My aim in the Live to Love Scripture Encouragements is to repeat this profound truth: when you live to love with Jesus, you are living the life of Christ and have His peace and love. As Paul put it to the Galatians, for you to live is for Christ to live. When you love by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is loving in and with you. Is your mind set on the Spirit? Is it set on the things above rather than on the things on the earth? Until someone repents of living life for self to achieve significance and happiness in this world and turns to live to love with Jesus for the glory of God as their purpose in life, their mind will continually be enslaved to sin and death. So remember. Living to love with Jesus is life and peace because it is the same as setting your mind on the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love because God is love. It helps me to think of the Spirit as the exact expression of the love between the Father and the Son pouring out like a tsunami to, through, and for their own. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com