Romans 8:5-6, Life and Peace

Romans 8:5-6 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

The Apostle Paul tells us the benefits of being spiritually minded is life and peace while the curse of carnal mindedness is death. He instructs us to live for the things that are eternal not the things that are temporal. He is teaching us a heavenly value system that is very different from the temporal gratification that the flesh offers us in this world. True peace is a life without regrets.

This was the gist of the book of Ecclesiastes written by King Solomon in his old age. It was a personal testimony to all posterity to teach the futility of worldly ambitions and desires in life apart from God. In short, a godless life in the flesh doesn’t satisfy the human soul as our Lord Jesus says in Mark 8:36-37 “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” He testified that God has given him the opportunity to experience it all, being king in Jerusalem during the golden age of Israel, he had at his disposal great resources to experiment, pursue and see this worldly life which he called life “under the sun” or life “under heaven”. The fruitlessness and futility of worldly ambitions, life in the flesh is depicted by the word “vanity” which he carefully chose to use and repeat throughout the book to epitomize such a life.

This world’s ambitions, desires and pursuits, life in the flesh, Solomon concluded give no real satisfaction to the soul for when we breath our last breath, that’s it, we leave behind the fruits of all our labour, we cannot bring with us. He is teaching this concept that anything that is of real value must be eternal. What is of value must be able to last. If it does not last, what is the point of pursuing it? We will be disappointed by it. This was the disappointment that Solomon wanted to convey. This is the same message from the Apostle Paul here. He articuates it more succinctly in Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 

May the Lord grant His grace that this new day be lived with a heavenly perspective. Amen.