Golf immortal Arnold Palmer recalls a lesson about overconfidence:
“It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, ‘Congratulations.’ I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters.”
Our focus in life is important for us as believers.
In Romans 8:5-8, we see the importance of having a new focus for us to walk in victory:
“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
In vs. 5, we see a contrast in focus.
If we walk by the flesh, it is because our focus is on the things of the flesh.
When we yield to the power of sin, we will live a fleshly life.
The ‘things of the flesh’ are not just the sins we commit; it is also living the Christian life in our own strength, which includes self-confidence and pride.
It is also living by Law, rather than by grace.
God wants us to live according to the Spirit under His purpose, power, and direction through His Word.
We need to be focused on the things that belong to the Spirit.
Since we are a new man and the Spirit indwells our human spirit, He is there to produce a desire to let Christ live out His resurrection life through us.
The things that belong to the Spirit are what He produces; which is Christ’s life in and through us, or the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
It is about what He promotes; like the Word, glorifying Christ, prayer, salvation of the lost, fellowship with believers, praise and thanking God in worship.
When we are living by the Spirit, these things will be our focus.
These two ways of focus are polar opposites.
In vs. 6-7, we see a contrast of results of our focus. A focus on the things which belong to the flesh leads to a life of unrest and death.
Death here for the believer, is the inability to function as God intended, which is to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
If our thought patterns are fleshly, we won’t have the ability to live abundantly or victoriously in Christ, instead we will live a defeated and frustrated life.
God wants our focus to be on things that belong to the Spirit.
This leads to life and peace.
We will live out of Christ’s resurrected life and will have a mind at rest that is content and secure in Christ.
In vs. 7, it makes it clear that if we remain trapped in this wrong focus we will be trapped in a life of continuous defeat and frustration.
The fleshly focus is hostile towards God because we are working against God and His purpose for us.
We see that the flesh is powerless to obey God’s Word.
In vs. 8, Paul does not want us imitating the unsaved.
The phrase “those who are in the flesh” is the unbeliever’s position before God.
They are always in the sphere of the flesh and are totally void of spiritual life and have no ability to please God.
Paul doesn’t want us walking by the flesh, because when we do, we are living a contradiction, since we are a new man in Christ (See 1 Corinthians 3:1-3).
Let’s put our focus on the Spirit!
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries