Do you ever want to do something, but you wind up doing the opposite? Say, for example, you want to lose weight by not eating certain foods (in my case potato chips), but you eat them anyway. Paul, writing in the middle of his letter to the Roman church (chapter 7) discusses that inner conflict where you want to do good, but you wind up doing the very things you don’t want to do.
Some people don’t wade through the logic and get confused by Paul’s writing. But he’s simply stating something we all experience. So, how did Paul get out of the dilemma? What is he trying to teach us?
“We become what we think about.” Earl Nightengale summarized the accumulated knowledge of many thinkers on a successful life with those words. Paul said (chapter 8), “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
It’s our choice. We choose where to set our minds. If we set our minds on being healthy, we will live a healthy lifestyle. If we set our minds on the Spirit, we receive life and peace. And the inner turmoil Paul describes in chapter 7 gradually fades away. And that describes the with-God life.
Faith Venture 
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