“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
-Romans 13:14
If any of you are like me, then at times you find the verse “He must increase, but I must decrease (Jn 3:30)” to not be so true in your life. You want it to be true, but when you really analyze your life, your motives, your priorities, you find that there is something or someone else that is increasing more than Christ. Once again, if you’re like me, it’s often yourself, your own name that you are desiring to increase. Needless to say, the desires of the flesh have surpassed the desires of Christ.
Last night I was with a LifeGroup talking about the pattern of sin found in James 1. While listening and flipping through some other references, I came to Romans 13.
In Romans 13:14, Paul encourages us to put on Christ, to walk in Him, and therefore give no room for letting desires of the flesh take precedence in our lives. We are to daily put Christ before us, remember the gospel – we are dead in our sins, but God who is rich in mercy has made us alive through Christ – and pull Him so close to us that our love for Him is renewed while simultaneously killing the things of the flesh that seem to creep up in our lives.
My prayer is that we would each put on the Lord Jesus Christ and kill the things of the flesh that war against us. That our true desires would be for Him to increase!
Love you guys. Press on!
Here are other Frequently Asked Questions and how the Bible answers them.
