4.2 – Lessons from a Seed

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.5-7; I Corinthians 15.31-38; Romans 6.6, 13.14

In yesterday’s study, we talked about the way that God says to deal with our sinful flesh…we simply die to it. Of course that doesn’t mean that He wants us to physically harm our bodies, but rather to render our bodily desires (lusts, pride, covetousness, etc) as dead. That is why God chose to use the word “mortify” in Col 3.5. It is the same word we would use today to speak of one who deals with dead bodies, they are a “Mortician”. So, today let’s look at another passage of scripture to maybe help us understand God’s reasoning and purpose behind choosing to use those words. In the verses above from Romans, you will find a couple more examples of when God tells us to render our bodies and their ways DEAD. We will spend our time looking at the passage above from I Corinthians 15 today.

In 1 Corinthians, the context (or topic being discussed) is the resurrection from the dead. However, in the middle of talking about that, an AMAZING TRUTH is laid out for us. God says that whenever you sow a seed, that seed cannot be a plant until it dies as a seed(15.36). You catch that? For an apple tree to grow, the apple SEED has to die, and then take on the NEW LIFE of an apple TREE! WOW. Again, God is speaking about the resurrection and how our glorified bodies are going to be a new kind of body that we cannot inherit until our physical ones we have now die. But SPIRITUALLY, the same it true! We cannot fully reach our NEW LIFE in Jesus Christ, until we fully MORTIFY our fleshy (or earthly or bodily) desires and ways!

You’ll notice that in 15.31 Paul (a great Christian leader who realized the NEW LIFE that he was to have in Christ) said he DIED DAILY. He can’t mean physically, can he?!? What he means is the spiritual dying to our flesh that we are talking about from Colossians 3.5-7.

Maybe you are asking, “What are the things we mortify?” Sometimes when we talk about SPIRITUAL truths like that, it is hard for us to understand them in a practical way. If you notice in v.5, God says “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth…” And then He gives a list of some things. Do you see that? Those are the things that are CAUSED BY those MEMBERS we are to mortify. In other words, what bodily desires cause us to commit FORNICATION? Things like lust, uncontrolled desires that we allow to control us. So we are to mortify our LUSTFUL DESIRES. What things cause us to commit UNCLEANLINESS? Things that are done from an impure heart, with sinful motives, cause us to be UNCLEAN, unholy, unrighteous, and more!

Okay, do you see the pattern there? As you conclude your time with God today, look through that list and ask the Spirit of God to show you where things are going UN-DEAD in your life. Things that need to be MORTIFIED. What are the areas of your life where you know God is not pleased, yet you seem to struggle with those things anyway? Those are things of our flesh(bodies) that we must not allow to control us . Those are things we MORTIFY.