Changed By Love
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors …heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. … Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:1-5, 10-11, 12, 17, 37-39
You exist to be loved by God, not to love God.
You will either be full of God’s love or full of yourself trying to love God. God did not love you because you were lovely or special (Romans 5:8), He loved you while you were a sinner. God does not need you to love Him, but you need Him to love you. When God’s love fills you, you will overflow with love. When you are filled with God’s love everything else in your life will become vivacious, but if you try to live without recognizing that you are loved, everything you do will lack meaning and value. You cannot redeem or add value to the past. Only God can redeem the past. You have to let God’s redemptive work of the past fuel the value you add to the future. By allowing God to fill and fuel you, you are fulfilling your purpose, and the overflow that spills out to others will come from your being filled.
Don't worry about how you've spent the past moments, focus on how you are going to spend this moment.
Worrying about what you can’t change won’t make it become something you can change. When you release the stress of worrying about the past, God is able to fill you with more of His love. You can let this love propel you into the future as God’s love drives you to love like He does. Whatever you are doing right now should consist of one of the following: God’s love for you, loving others, or preparing yourself to love others. The more you live in love, the more love will envelop your life so you don’t even have to think about it, love naturally becomes who you are.
What flesh do you have?
In John 6:53 Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” The word for flesh is sarx. As you partake of the goodness of God, His flesh becomes your strength. As His love becomes your strength, your flesh and life become more loving. The same word is used in Matthew 19:5, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh (sarx)?” The goal of the Christian life is to walk in the spirit so that the flesh can be transformed. Your goal is not to seek a separation from the flesh in a Gnostic sense but to transform the flesh (Romans 12:2) so that the flesh of the Son of Man is what feeds you and the spirit is what directs your flesh instead of your flesh directing your spirit. You cannot direct God’s love; you must let His love direct your life in the flesh.