Read: Romans 8:1-13

The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made me
free from the law of sin and
death. -Romans 8:2

On a flight from London to New York, I was seated next
to a nervous passenger. He admitted to me that he felt
he was keeping our plane airborne by sheer willpower.
He couldn’t relax for a moment, for fear that gravity
would drag us down.

Even though the law of gravity would keep us
earthbound, there’s a law of aerodynamics that overcomes
the pull of gravity. If this passenger had trusted that
principle when he boarded the plane, he would have saved
himself a lot of needless worry.

In a similar way, many believers are trying to reach
and maintain spiritual heights by sheer willpower. But
by ourselves, we’re bound to the downward drag of the
law of sin and death. However, in Romans 8:2, Paul
wrote about a higher law – the law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus, which sets people free from the law of
sin and death. As we totally entrust ourselves to the
living Spirit of Christ within us and maintain an
attitude of dependence on Him, we’re set free from the
law of sin and death.

If you’re living by sheer willpower, your Christian
life hasn’t really “taken off.” But the moment you
entrust yourself fully to Christ, you’re freed from the
body of death, and you begin rising on the wings of His
Spirit.
-Joanie E. Yoder

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean if from earth, through all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love. -Croly

OUR SPIRIT FAILS US
UNLESS GOD’S SPIRIT FILLS US.

OUR DAILY BREAD, Copyright 1999 by Radio Bible Class,
Grand Rapids,Michigan. Used by permission.