By John Mitchell
I want what I don’t have, but I don’t want to give up what I do have. “I do want to be totally committed to loving, serving, and obeying God. But I don’t want to totally give up all the ways of the world.” Totally committed means no other commitments to anything else. To be able to TOTALLY walk according to the Spirit, we have to TOTALLY stop walking according to the flesh. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). “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” (Romans 8:1). Think of it this way, there are two rooms, like a suite of rooms in a hotel. The rooms are side by side, with only one doorway between the two separate rooms. The room on the left is the carnal, worldly, kingdom of darkness room. The room on the right is the heavenly, spiritual, godly, kingdom of light. To be able to go from the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of light, we have to agree to do two things. First, we have to walk through that one and only door, to be able to get into the Kingdom of light. Jesus is the door, and the only way to the Father (John 10:9, 14:6). This first step includes obeying and following God’s plan of salvation for us. Second, when we walk through that one and only door, then, in obedience to God, we have to close that door behind us, to all of the worldly carnality, from our past. No darkness from our past can come into our present and future life. If we go back to the dark ways of our past, we are rejecting the truth of God, for the lies and deception of Satan, and the world. When we first become a Christian, the light of God increases INTO our life, and the darkness of evil decreases OUT OF our life. (Genesis 1:3-4) “Then God said, “Let there be light.”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness” (John 8:12). “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” 1 John 1:5,6).“ God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” These following scriptures tell us that everyone has to make a decision in their life, to live their life their way, or God’s way. We can’t get into heaven by the default, of not making a decision. To not make a decision, is a decision to not obey God’s will for your life. “He who is not with Me is against Me…” (Matt. 12:30). God does not automatically give salvation to anyone. We have to love, obey, and serve God, and follow His plan of salvation for us. Think about what God is telling us through these following Scriptures. They are telling us what we should not do. Luke 9:62 “But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Ephesians 5:11 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” Romans 8:4-5 “…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. James 4:4 “Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” “Do not love the world, or anything in the world.” (1 John 2:15) Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other.” James 1:6-8 “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” THERE IS NO BETTER PLAN FOR OUR LIFE, THAN GOD’S PLAN FOR OUR LIFE!!! These following Scriptures are telling us what we should be doing. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil” (Proverbs 3:5-7). Matthew 6:33 tells us to, “… seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” Matthew 22:37-38 “Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Baptism is for the remission of our sins, and we then become a new creation in Christ. 2 Corinthians. 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.” It is up to us, with God’s help, to daily forsake our old sinful ways, and live a righteous life of obedience to God. It is our responsibility to be right with God daily, to live righteously, as these Scriptures tell us. Acts 17:11 “…they received the word with all readiness, and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” Matthew 10:22, and 24:13, and Mark 13:13 all say; “He who endures to the end shall be saved.” Romans 13:14 “But PUT ON the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Ephesians 4:22-24 “that YOU PUT OFF concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that YOU PUT ON the new man, which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” God loves us so much that He sacrificed Jesus’ life for us. We should love God so much that we will daily sacrifice our carnal ways, by submitting to God’s will for us, by living our lives loving, obeying, and serving God, and loving and serving others. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Romans 12:1-2).