Belonging

DEVOTION
ROMANS
BELONGING
Rom 8:9-11
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
NIV
Yes, it is true, I do belong to Christ. Yes it is true; I am not controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit. Yes it is true; the Spirit of God does live in me. But it is also true I have not yet been able to overcome sin completely. How can that be? My body is dead, but my spirit is alive. Does this mean I can separate the body and the spirit? I don’t think so, No I am a whole complete being, body soul and spirit, made in the image of God, by God and for God. I have been, my body, has been raised from the dead, the dead which was a result of being controlled by my sinful nature. This control was complete and total, having its way in every aspect of my life, but that is dead, it died because of sin, and now I have been raised from the dead, and made alive with Christ. I am now controlled by the Spirit, but even so, is he not strong enough to keep me from falling so often? How can I fall as often as I do, if I am controlled by Him? The point is the Greek does not use the word controlled, it merely states “in the body, or in the Spirit”. So, it seems to me, it is who do I have a relationship with, my body or the Spirit of God? Who do I live for, my body or the Spirit? I choose to live for the Spirit and He is making my body alive, or revitalizing my body through our relationship. This is a process which does take time, it is a journey, but I do belong to him and not to myself, that was my first step on a long journey, a journey that will take all my life here on earth to complete.