The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. Genesis 6:5
God was grieved over how the men and women became inclined to be evil every moment of the day. God never intended for man to be filled with evil intent but as it turned out the wickedness from the thoughts of man concerned God enough to destroy the earth by flood. God wanted his creation to love one another and to build a society of people that would live in peace with each other. The bible tells us man had a sin nature that not only rejected God but opposed any restraint to control their lives. The prescription for the sin nature demanded a renewed mind that would respect God and choose to implement the known will of God.
Before anyone can consider the reason why God wanted his children to renew their mind and live by his principles, they have to look at the world they live in. Everyone wants to go to heaven, but in God’s eye, the way they live would create unacceptable living conditions for home in heaven. Even though a person may know right from wrong, the failure to discipline his or her mind to avoid doing things that ultimately harm another person is the main cause for God’s concern. The deeds of these people produce grief, mental anguish and other forms of depravity that creates strife with their fellow man.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
The acts of the sinful nature are obviously undisciplined, especially when no boundaries are established to govern the way the individual lives. Like Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). And Hosea wrote how men were continuously hostile with their fellow man.
There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Hosea 4:1-2
These conditions of immorality continue to this day. There is no loyalty to our leaders; our nation has become corrupt for we maybe one nation under God where we allow evil men to drive God out of government. The problems compound as the laws of the land are routinely violated and replaced by a liberal set of penalties based on the moral laws of evil men. Laws that are designed to allow its citizens to separate God from their lives and allows corruption in those who will do what the law legally allows to get by with. In other words they attempt to remove the restraint that produces civil peace among men.
Renewing the mind and adopting God’s principles obviously involve a method of disciplining the mind to handle your life in a manner not only to please God but your fellow man. The reality is the only way to administer God’s law is through love which would prevent the moral breakdown of society. The choice to love God with our entire being and love our neighbors as ourselves would elevate everyone to a place of respectability. God’s principles administered through love do not oppose the rights of another person or degrade anyone having a concern for their wellbeing.
God spells out the laws of love clearly. Each of the laws of the Old Testament contains a provision that restricts your actions to demonstrate love by choice. What it means, if you were to obey these laws of your free will, you would be demonstrating respect and genuine love for one another.
The grace and love of God introduced a foundation law to govern our disposition. This foundation is needed because it forms the boundaries that prevent you from doing evil things that harm the relationship you have with God and your fellow man. At the same time a disposition of love incorporated in God’s laws is capable of producing close and intimate relationships with hundreds of people that ultimately develop trust in you.
The love God wants to establish goes beyond marriage intimacy and into a social behavior that has respect for everyone. Regardless of personal beliefs or your goals in life, sin puts up a barrier that prevents establishing a closer relationship. On the other hand, these Ten Commandments of God are the architect and builder of strong and personal relationships. Observing the commandments of God produces a character worthy of trust that people seek and admire.
Renewing our minds and taking God’s principles to heart produces a code of conduct that governs our lives. God is Holy and desires that his children live holy lives. What this means is that God wants his children to separate their lives from evil by recognizing the effects of sin and make every effort to avoid personal evolvement with any form of evil. Some call this lifestyle holiness and moral wholeness.
From the human viewpoint evil is the pain, adversity, anguish, suffering and other harmful from deeds that we wouldn’t want to happen to anyone. The acts of sin virtually create a state of war that keep people in turmoil and prevent peace between persons. From God’s viewpoint any code of conduct that is governed by our personal evil desires will cause harmful things that affect the lives of other people. The moral wholeness God wants his children to live by is to avoid actions that cause people to suffer from what you do or say. At the same time, God is telling us that man has a sin nature that will eventually corrupt the code of conduct God wants. The bible tells us that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough (1 Corinthians 5:6, Galatians 5:9) and for this reason the human mind needs spiritual discipline. Paul explains how unrestrained sin nature works in the following verse.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. Romans 7:20-23
In other words we must learn to master the sin through discipline (Genesis 4:7). God prefers that you discipline your life to establish a plan to turn from evil to do good (Psalms 34:14). Jeremiah 13:23 tells us that when you are doing evil habitually, those habits makes it difficult to change our ways. At the same time, we need to love our enemies (Luke 6:27) which is difficult to do without divine help. The plain truth is that we need help because the sinful nature weakens our ability to govern our lives according to the law God set forth (Galatians 5:18).
Therefore, we must make a diligent effort to renew our minds and take God’s plan for our lives to heart. If we make no effort to know God how will we ever know what pleases God? God calls it a spiritual act of worship that demands you to renew your mind so you will no longer conform to the pattern of this world. The reason being, the world is constantly presenting an example of evil that easily suppresses the truth within our sight. In contrast God’s word renews our mind constantly reminding us to live by the truth to honor God.
Evil is destructive but you must overcome evil with the good deeds, those who know God understand he has a plan of good deeds prepared in advance for you to complete. The only way to overcome evil is with good but it means that spends time with God and put your life on hold to serve your fellow man. Those controlled by the sinful nature serve their own needs and cannot please God (Galatians 5:18). Those who set their minds to worship God also make time to spend with him and ultimately bond with him. Spending time with God will compel you to set your mind on (Romans 8:1-8) what the Spirit desires in addition to knowing what God is willing to do to help you overcome the world.
Those who accept Jesus as Lord will enter God’s eternal home and into his rest. Those who refuse to accept the authority of Jesus Christ or discipline their minds to prevent committing crimes against God will not be accepted into his kingdom. On the other hand, time for those who enter heaven will not be measured in days, months or years but described as time without end. God’s Love requires a disciplined mind to preserve peace and order in his eternal kingdom. These laws of love establish loyalty to God, the rights of every citizen and a desire to love one another.
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