Choices! Choices! Choices! ~ The Very Rev. Lady Sherwood, OPoc

Romans 8:6-118:6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  8:7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law– indeed it cannot, 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 8:9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  8:10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Do you like watching television? Perhaps you have digital TV, or cable in your home.  Maybe you like to watch soaps, or a funny comedy, or even a weepy movie. There are so many different things we can choose to watch these days isn’t there? Or maybe you might like to have a pizza for a snack or meal. Which one out of all the varieties do you choose and set you mind upon having? Cheese and tomato perhaps, or hot and spicy, or ham, or pineapple, or even some other type? Choices, choices, choices!!

In our own lives, we also have a choice to make. This choice is to set our minds on flesh, or to set our minds on Spirit. Which do we choose? Is it the Flesh, which does not serve God, and  does not have true peace or eternal salvation from death?  Or do we choose to be in Spirit? Being in Spirit means we accept God into our whole selves, loving and following his teachings in all thoughts, words and actions, literally being one with God through the Holy Spirit in all things. If we are in flesh, then flesh alone is all we are and all we ever will be. Death for those in the flesh is simply that, the death of the flesh, meaning the final end. If we are in Spirit, then Spirit is what we are, the spirit of God. Yes even we who are in spirit have to suffer death of our flesh bodies, but as we are in the Spirit, our Spirit lives on with God our heavenly Father and creator in peace and joy for all eternity, and our physical death is merely a transition, the doorway to our true home with God.

When choosing which digital TV or cable programme we want to watch, we need to decide carefully that it is suitable to watch, as for example there may be children to consider or a person may be of a sensitive nature. With setting our minds to having a pizza, issues to consider could be things like food allergies for example. Likewise and even more vitally important is the choice of being in flesh or being in Spirit, as this choice we make determines whether we truly die or whether we eternally live on. I personally like various programmes and most types of pizza so on these much lesser decisions, I can vary depending on the situation at the time, however, In this vital choice of being in the flesh or in the Spirit, I have definitely chosen to be in the Spirit forever and this is my decision in which I truly rejoice! So what do you choose, Flesh equaling death, or Spirit equaling eternal life? Choices!  Choices!  Choices!  The choice of course is yours, so choose wisely!!!

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