Daily Bread – March 4, 2023 (The Seventh Day – Genesis 2:1-3) Ephesians 4:17 – This I say then, and testify in the Lord: you shall no longer walk as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. Once we have been born of God, everything is supposed to change. Instead of living in the vanity of our minds, we are to live by the Word of God and walk in the mind of Christ (Ephesians 4:17; Deuteronomy 8:3; 1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5). Living by the Spirit calls for a whole new realm of thinking. However, if a person who is born again fails to realize the blessed grace of living in the direction and gifting of the Spirit, they may turn back to living their own lives and behaving themselves according to a natural, carnal mind. The whole concept of vanity is defined in the book of Ecclesiastes. Although vanity may correlate to a person who is devoid of knowledge, there are many intelligent people who walk in the vanity of their minds. It is a mind devoid of spiritual knowledge. Their reason and purpose for existence is entirely selfish, earthly, and sensual. Their motivation and processing of such thinking is all about temporal and earthly cares. Although a classical meaning of vanity may be excessive pride and conceit, it really speaks more of the futility outlined by the preacher in Ecclesiastes. If we live our lives in such a way, we shut out the voice of the Spirit and learn to give little regard to the mind of Christ. The person given to depending upon the natural mind cannot receive the things the Holy Spirit would teach them (1 Corinthians 2:14). Unless we will allow the Spirit of the Lord to teach us, we will discover ourselves in a ditch walking as babes and mere men, thinking and reasoning after the nature of men, defending our own causes, and consumed by our own self-interest (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). If we walk in the vanity of our own mind, we walk as those whose understanding is darkened, separated from the life of God, calloused of heart, and insensitive to God (Ephesians 4:17-19). The place that we are to begin if we are going to walk in the mind of Christ is the commitment to take no thought for our own interest and needs, but instead to seek the things that exist in the unseen realm of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:31-33; Colossians 3:1-3). Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
Daily Bread 3/4/2023
