God's Race by Grace

UV 4272/10000 God’s Race by Grace For if you are living according to the (impulses of the ) flesh, you are going to die. But if (you are living) by the (power of the Holy ) Spirit you are habitually putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, you will (really) live forever. Romans 8 v 13 We who believe in Jesus are to live led by the Holy Spirit. We are not to live according to the impulses of the mind or the desires of the flesh but as directed by the Spirit of God. If we live impulsively, we reap eternal death but if we live led by the Spirit, we will put to death sin in our bodies and will live forever. We habitually try to obey God and His word in our lives. We are set free from the curse of hamartia or sinful shortcoming and live in the abundance of peace and joy and freedom from sin. We realize that the freedom to sin that we had formerly is not real freedom but bondage and death. When sin has no claim on us, death has no claim on us. We are to pursue righteous habits like prayer, meditation, study of the word, fellowship, regular worship and sharing our faith and hope in Christ with others. The more we study the word of God, the better we know Jesus and the more we know the Truth and the more we are set free from sin and death. Instead of the chains of sin, we have many gains of peace and grace. We begin to enjoy the fruit of righteousness, not the spoils of sin. We enter the inheritance we have as children of God and co-heirs with Christ. Our sense of identity will merge closer and closer with Jesus such that like Paul we can say that it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me and for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. In other words, we overcome the universally existing fear of death for death gets its power due to its finality, irrevocability, the sense of the unknown existing beyond death, the fear of judgement of God and its penalty. But Christ not only identified totally with the sin of man but took upon himself all its consequences including eternal death and judgement. We are no longer the human race but the g-race or God’s race, a new creation called to live in the newness of our faith, the richness of His grace.