Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

3  For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

 4  so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 5  For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

 6  For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

 7  because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,

 8  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”  Romans 8:1-9. 

Let me give you an analogy of the flesh trying to prove its own righteousness through following the Law.  

I might receive written directions on how to get from my home to a certain location, let us say, Disney World.  Although, living in Florida, and even in St. Petersburg, I may be much closer than my readers to Disney World, I would still need for the following to occur in order to get to Disney World:

1.  I would need to read and understand directions.

2.  I would need to judge distances.

3.  I would need to find and read street signs.

4.  I would need to know the difference between east and west, north and south.

5.  I would need reliable transportation.

6.  I would need to be alive.

7.  I would need to want to go.

8.  I would need to be able to drive or otherwise be able to use other reliable transportation.

I could break this down further but you get my drift. 

Now, the problem is not the written directions.  They are good and perfect.  The problem is me.

Wouldn’t it be better if I had a Disney guide driving a Disney limbo to pick me up and drive me to Disney World?!

Now, think of getting to heaven and how much more difficult it is to get there than to get to Disney World!  Why would we want to cling to those written directions (the Law) and depend on ourself when we have the Spirit to guide us and take us to heaven?!