Don't Quench What Shouldn't Be Quenched
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8:11
Romans 8 is by far my favorite chapter in the Bible. There is so much encouragement for Christians in those 17 verses, and we would do well to ponder those things. The chapter opens with this awesome declaration of the reality of believers: for those who have put their faith in Jesus, condemnation is no longer a reality. Paul then goes on to unpack the freedom that we have in Jesus to live and be who He has created and redeemed us to be. But if you are like me, I have really good days of remembering that and then allowing it to shape my everyday life. Then there are those days when I fail. That persistent temptation to sin creeps in. I allow my frustrations with my failures to weigh heavily on me, and I do one of two things. I wallow in despair and self-pity, or I just try harder in my own abilities. Neither seems to work out.
Romans 8:11 gives us this incredible perspective of how we can fight the temptation to sin and despair and avoid self-pity or the pointless attempt to muscle it out on our own. Paul says the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us AND gives us life! Have you ever thought about that? The Holy Spirit convicts of sin (Jn. 16:8). The Spirit is our helper (Jn. 14:26). The Spirit comforts us with joy as we go through a hostile world (1 Thess. 1:6).
The Spirit is such an incredible gift that we have, and we so often neglect Him. The Spirit can be grieved (Eph. 4:30). The Spirit can be quenched (1 Thess. 5:19). Why would we do so when we have this incredible gift of the third person living in us? Yet I think we often do. The next time we feel beat down by our failures and begin to wander off into self-pity or try to convince ourselves we should just try harder under our own ability, maybe what we should do is remember Romans 8. We have reason to rejoice and live free from sin, pity, and trying harder. We have the same Spirit that raised Jesus to life in us, and He gives us life. That is a mighty power, brothers and sisters. Let’s not resist or quench Him but embrace Him.
Romans 8:11
Romans 8 is by far my favorite chapter in the Bible. There is so much encouragement for Christians in those 17 verses, and we would do well to ponder those things. The chapter opens with this awesome declaration of the reality of believers: for those who have put their faith in Jesus, condemnation is no longer a reality. Paul then goes on to unpack the freedom that we have in Jesus to live and be who He has created and redeemed us to be. But if you are like me, I have really good days of remembering that and then allowing it to shape my everyday life. Then there are those days when I fail. That persistent temptation to sin creeps in. I allow my frustrations with my failures to weigh heavily on me, and I do one of two things. I wallow in despair and self-pity, or I just try harder in my own abilities. Neither seems to work out.
Romans 8:11 gives us this incredible perspective of how we can fight the temptation to sin and despair and avoid self-pity or the pointless attempt to muscle it out on our own. Paul says the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us AND gives us life! Have you ever thought about that? The Holy Spirit convicts of sin (Jn. 16:8). The Spirit is our helper (Jn. 14:26). The Spirit comforts us with joy as we go through a hostile world (1 Thess. 1:6).
The Spirit is such an incredible gift that we have, and we so often neglect Him. The Spirit can be grieved (Eph. 4:30). The Spirit can be quenched (1 Thess. 5:19). Why would we do so when we have this incredible gift of the third person living in us? Yet I think we often do. The next time we feel beat down by our failures and begin to wander off into self-pity or try to convince ourselves we should just try harder under our own ability, maybe what we should do is remember Romans 8. We have reason to rejoice and live free from sin, pity, and trying harder. We have the same Spirit that raised Jesus to life in us, and He gives us life. That is a mighty power, brothers and sisters. Let’s not resist or quench Him but embrace Him.
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