Today’s Scripture: Psalm 78:40

“How often they rebelled against him . . . and grieved him!”

The verb mortify, or put to death, is used eleven times in the New Testament. In nine of those instances it refers to a literal putting to death of a person; each of those is in the context of an underlying hostility toward what that person stood for. For example, in Matthew 10:21: “Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death” (NIV). The hostility is not only toward the parents but also toward their authority. Likewise Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was put to death because of his bold, uncompromising witness for Jesus Christ (Acts 7).

Now apply that sense of hostility toward the sin you wish to mortify. See your sin for what it is and what it stands for—a rebellion against God, a breaking of his law, a despising of his authority, a grieving of his heart. This is where mortification actually begins, with a right attitude toward sin. It begins with the realization that sin is wrong, not because of what it does to me or my spouse or child or neighbor, but because it is an act of rebellion against the infinitely holy and majestic God who sent his Son to be the propitiation for my sins.

Think of an unusually persistent sin in your life—perhaps some secret lust that lies in your heart that only you know about. You say you cannot overcome it. Why not? Is it because you exalt your secret desire above the will of God? If we are to succeed in putting sin to death, we must realize that the sin we are dealing with is none other than a continual exalting of our desire over God’s known will.

https://www.navigators.org/Home

Today’s Scripture: Romans 14:1

“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.”

The issue of differing opinions about certain practices has been around at least since the days of the apostle Paul. He devoted an entire chapter of the book Romans to this brand of legalism.

The crux of the problem is stated well by Paul in Romans 14:5: “one person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” People simply have different opinions about various issues. One person sees no problem in a certain practice; another person considers that practice to be sinful.

As Christians we can’t seem to accept the clear biblical teaching in Romans 14 that God allows equally godly people to have differing opinions on certain matters. We universalize what we think is God’s particular leading in our lives and apply it to everyone else.

When we think like that we are putting God in a box, so to speak. We’re insisting that he must surely lead everyone as we believe he has led us. We refuse to allow God the freedom to deal with each of us as individuals. When we think like that, we are legalists.

We must not seek to bind the consciences of other believers with the private convictions that arise out of our personal walk with God. Even if you believe God has led you in developing those convictions, you still must not elevate them to the level of spiritual principles for everyone else to follow. The respected Puritan theologian John Owen taught that “only what God has commanded in his Word should be regarded as binding; in all else there may be liberty of actions.” (Excerpt taken from Transforming Grace)

https://www.navigators.org/Home

Today’s Scripture: 1 John 3:1, NKJV

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!”

When used as an imperative verb, behold carries the strong idea of imploring someone’s attention. This is how John used it in 1 John 3:1. He was saying, “Stop! Think of this! Consider this astonishing fact: God loves us so much that we’re called His children!”

Think of it: If you’ve trusted in Christ as savior, you’re God’s child, a son or daughter of the Creator, sustainer, and ruler of the universe—though our circumstances, or even our behavior, can often obscure that fact.

After John’s exclamation about this, he added, “and so we are” (3:1). It’s as if he was saying, “It’s really true! We really are his children!” Why does John get so excited about a truth we often take for granted?

This truth is amazing, first of all, because of who we once were. Consider the fact that every sin you’ve committed was an act of rebellion against the sovereign authority of God, or, as someone has said, an act of cosmic treason. But instead of the death we deserve as punishment for such treason, we’re made sons and daughters of the very king we’ve rebelled against! Instead of death, we get eternal life. Instead of wrath, we receive favor. Instead of eternal ruin, we’re made heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. And all of this becomes ours without our doing a single thing to earn the king’s favor or any attempt on our part to make restitution! His Son has done it all for us.

Do you believe that? Do you each day realize that you’re a child of the heavenly king? (Excerpt taken from The Gospel for Real Life)

https://www.navigators.org/Home

Today’s Scripture: Romans 8:13

“If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

We’ll never reach the place where we don’t have to contend against the flesh. But the life of a Christian should be characterized by an earnest desire and sincere effort to put to death (mortify) the sins of the body.

Although mortification is our responsibility, it can be done only through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, “But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). John Owen wrote, “all other ways of discipline are in vain. All other helps leave us helpless. Mortification is accomplished only ‘through the Spirit’ . . . no other power can accomplish it.”

Although the Scriptures emphasize both human discipline and dependence on the Holy Spirit, we tend to emphasize one to the neglect of the other. To some, it seems more spiritual to “just turn it all over to God” and trust him to do the mortifying. Any mention of our responsibility is dismissed as being only “a work of the flesh.”

To other people who stress discipline, it seems more responsible to “just do it.” But mortification attempted only by human willpower always ends in self-righteousness or frustration. The more naturally disciplined person tends toward self-righteousness and wonders why everyone else can’t be as successful in mortification as he or she is. But all that person has done is exchanged one sin for another. The problem of impure thoughts, for example, is exchanged for pride and self-righteousness. Another person who tries to mortify some particular sin by his or her own willpower fails and becomes frustrated and guilty. So pride or frustration is always the result of attempts to mortify sin that are carried on apart from utter dependence on the Spirit. (Excerpt taken from The Discipline of Grace)

https://www.navigators.org/Home

Today’s Scripture: Romans 11:36

“For from him and through him and to him are all things.”

The realization that faith is the gift of God should encourage us to pray with confidence for others’ salvation. It means that no one, however hardened he or she may be, is beyond the regenerating, life-creating work of the Holy Spirit.

I think of some for whose salvation I pray regularly. One wants nothing to do with God. Another is happily indifferent, seeing no need of a savior because he’s a good, moral person. Others would be highly insulted to be told they need a savior because, after all, they’re both moral and religious.

What hope is there for these people? It lies only in the sovereign, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. I pray regularly that he’ll work in their hearts through the Gospel message to create the faith they must have to believe in Christ.

Awareness that faith is the gift of God should also arouse a sense of profound gratitude and worship in our hearts. We could not even take advantage of God’s gracious gift of salvation apart from his prior working in our hearts. But God gave us life when we were dead, gave us sight when we were blind, and gave us the faith to trust in Christ for our salvation. If we spent the rest of our lives doing nothing but saying thank-you to God, we could still never sufficiently express our gratitude for his gift of salvation, including the gift of faith by which we receive it.

Do you want to grow in your own worship of God? That growth will be directly related to your understanding of the Gospel in all its fullness, including the fact that the faith by which you believed was a gift from God.

https://www.navigators.org/Home

Today’s Scripture: Romans 12:2

“Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

The verb be transformed in Romans 12:2 is a command to do something. This indicates that we as believers are not passive in this transforming process. We’re not like blocks of marble being transformed into a beautiful sculpture by a master sculptor. God has given us a mind and heart with which to respond to and cooperate with the Spirit as he does his work in us.

That thought leads naturally to a classic statement in Scripture of the working together of the believer and the Holy Spirit within: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).

Paul urged the Philippian believers to apply themselves diligently to working out their salvation. He urged them to display the evidences of salvation in their daily lives through their obedience to God’s commands and through putting on the godly character traits that Paul elsewhere called the fruit of the Spirit. And, according to William Hendriksen, the tense of the verb work out indicates “continuous, sustained, strenuous effort.” Here again we see that sanctification is a process, and a process in which we, as believers, are very actively involved.

But Paul’s strong exhortation to the Philippians is based on the confidence that God’s Spirit is working in them, working to enlighten their understanding of his will, to stimulate in their emotions a desire to do his will, and to turn their wills so they actually obey. He gives them the enabling power so that they’re able to do his will. (Excerpt taken from Transforming Grace)

https://www.navigators.org/Home

Today’s Scripture: Colossians 3:5

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.”

Making the right choices to obey God rather than our sinful desires necessarily involves the discipline of mortification. What is mortification? And what does it have to do with holiness?

The apostle Paul gave us the answer: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death [mortify] the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). To make the right choices it’s necessary to mortify, or put to death, the misdeeds of the body—the sinful actions we commit in thought, word, or deed. Paul was more explicit about some of these in Colossians 3:5: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

As we look at Romans 8:13, one thing we clearly see is that mortification, or putting sin to death, is our responsibility. Paul said, “If you put to death .” It’s our responsibility, something we must do, not something we turn over to God.

We should also note that Paul said, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die.” Paul was talking about spiritual, not physical death. The opposite is also true. If we live according to the Spirit—that is, if by him we “put to death the deeds of the body”—we shall live in the spiritual sense. Once again, as he did so frequently, Paul stressed the inextricable link between justification and sanctification. Paul clearly taught that we’re saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), but he also stressed that we’re to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), that is, without presuming on the grace of God.

https://www.navigators.org/Home

Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 10:14

“He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

Sanctification is the radical change God brings about in the heart of a person who trusts Jesus Christ as savior. It’s the passing from spiritual death to spiritual life, the beginning of a new creation in Christ, and the writing of God’s law in our hearts. It means a new relationship to the law of God and a new attitude toward it. And all this is from God, a gift of his grace just as surely as is the gift of justification.

God doesn’t bring us into his kingdom, then leave us on our own to grow. He continues to work in our lives to conform us more and more to the likeness of his Son. As Paul said, “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). This continuing work of God is called “progressive sanctification.” It differs from initial sanctification in two respects. Initial sanctification occurs instantly at the moment of salvation when we’re delivered from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13). Progressive sanctification continues over time until we go to be with the Lord.

Initial sanctification is entirely the work of God the Holy Spirit who imparts to us the very life of Christ. Progressive sanctification is also the work of the Holy Spirit, but it involves a response on our part so that we as believers are actively involved in the process.

The progressive nature of sanctification is implied throughout the New Testament epistles in all those instances where we are exhorted to grow, to change, to put off the deeds of the old man and put on Godlike character. (Excerpt taken from Transforming Grace)

https://www.navigators.org/Home

Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 5:14

“The mature . . . have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Paul exhorted Timothy, “Train yourself for godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). Though godliness is a broader concept than holiness, holiness is a major part of it, so training ourselves to be godly certainly includes training in holiness.

This training requires exercise. In fact, the King James Version translates this phrase, “exercise thyself . . . unto godliness.” How do we exercise ourselves in the spiritual realm? Through the choices we make. When we make wrong choices, we train ourselves in the wrong direction—like the false teachers Peter described, who had “hearts trained in greed” (2 Peter 2:14).

God wants us to train ourselves in the right direction through making right choices. Frankly, this is where the going gets tough. We’ll agree with Scripture’s teaching about some particular sin and even make a commitment of sorts to put it out of our lives. Then the temptation to indulge that sin comes once again, and we’re unwilling to make the tough choice. We would like to be rid of that sin, and even pray to God to take it away, but are we willing to say no to it?

Every day we’re training ourselves in one direction or the other: toward lying or truthfulness; selfishness or unselfishness; anger or forgiveness; impurity or purity; irritability or patience; covetousness or generosity; pride or humility; materialism or simplicity.

Only through making the right choice to obey God’s Word will we break the habits of sin and develop habits of holiness. This is where we desperately need the Holy Spirit’s power to enable us to make the right choices. So cry out to God every day for his help; cry out each time you are confronted with the choice to sin or to obey.

https://www.navigators.org/Home