The Key to Life and Peace
“The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6
One fact I recently read was that we have over 50,000 thoughts per day. How amazing! Yet what kind of thoughts we have can greatly determine how our lives shape out. The Bible is very clear in Romans 8:6 that our thoughts will set us on a trajectory towards life or death.
The verse says that if we allow our mind to be governed (controlled, led by) the flesh, we will experience death. Pouring toxic waste on a flower garden will not help the flowers to grow, right? The same is true for our minds.
If we allow ourselves to dwell on all the outrage and offense we feel about every single situation, we will find that we have turned into angry, resentful people that are hard to be around. If we dwell on our fears and do not seek help from God, we will find ourselves paralized by all the “what ifs” of our lives and unable to move forward.
Yet if instead we turn to the Spirit, the Bible promises we will experience life and peace. If we find ourselves offended and instead turn to the Spirit for help, we will be able to forgive and release people and find joy and contentment instead of despair. If we dwell on God’s word when we are afraid, we will be able to train our brains to hold onto hope and settle in peace rather than spiral out of control.
With rich soil (the Word) and water (the Spirit), the flower garden of our minds will come alive.
Submitting to the Spirit means we are after God’s will, not our own way. When we learn to say no to the things that would lead us further away from Him and yes to the things that honor Him and bless others, we find life.
This isn’t ever easy, but the more we do it, the more we will see life and peace spring forth in our lives. We will find ourselves less anxious, angry, or afraid because we’ve trained ourselves to turn towards God when these feelings arise. We will find that we have more grace for ourselves and love for others as we dwell on the love God has for us instead of listening to the voice of the flesh that tries to tell us we are never enough.