10-11-23-ENG.

"You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. "

Romans 8:9 
SOMEBODY TO LEAN ON

Read It: Ephesians 5:16-17
When I broke my leg playing football in 1970, they put a steel plate in my leg and wrapped it in a sixty-pound cast that reached from the bottom of my foot to my hips. They also gave me crutches, because I could not walk without something to lean on. I was too burdened down with the cast and too broken in my leg to pull off what I wanted and needed to do. I wanted to walk, and I needed to walk, but I was too weighed down. Some of us came into the Christian life wearing a sixty-pound spiritual itual cast. We came into the light wanting to walk and needing to walk, but unable to walk because we were weighed down by a heavy cast. Maybe for you it was child abuse or other damaging circumstances. Maybe you grew up with parents who drank and showed you very little tle love. You say, "I need to walk. I need to love. I need to keep my temper. I promised myself I wouldn't do those things, but this cast is so heavy." Well, when God saved you, He gave you a crutch, Somebody to lean on with the strength to hold you up. That is the job of the Holy Spirit, because God is well aware of the number sin has done on you. See, when you get saved, you do not lose the flesh. You bring it with you into the Christian life. Your flesh comes along kicking and screaming ing all the way.

It has no intention of letting you go. In fact, you may have many of the same sinful propensities today that you had before conversion. That's why you need to understand the will of the Lord for you (v. 17), which is to be filled with the Spirit. Your flesh has been contaminated by sin. When you come to Christ, you need supernatural help to live the Christian life. Paul said he could find "nothing good" in his flesh (Romans 7:18). You and I have to sign our names to that one too! Think About It There is nothing in you that can enable you to live the Christian life on your own. If you've tried it, you know what I mean.