Focus

As you quiet yourself for this brief time, be willing to be open to God in whatever way that may take place.

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Read

Romans 8:6-11 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

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Reflect

I have a little statue of three monkeys. You may have seen these figures before one monkey has its eyes covered, one monkey has its mouth covered, and the other monkey has its eyes covered. This statue was the original meme. The point of the statue is to remind us that we must be intentional about what we allow ourselves to do and intentional about the things we refrain form doing.

Paul says in Colossians 3, set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. We do this through the power of the Spirit. We are intentional about everything we say or do not say, everything we see or choose not to see, the things we choose to hear and the things we choose to not to hear. God reveals to us through the Spirit those heavenly things to set our minds on and we grieve the Holy Spirit when we set our mind on and pursue earthly things.

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Pray

Lord God, help us to desire the things you desire and gives us the discernment to refrain from those things that keep us chained to earth. Amen

Go with God!