Do Not Think About How to Gratify the Desires of the Flesh

[14] “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” – Romans 13:14 (NIV)

Why do you wear clothes before going out? To cover your nakedness, right? It somehow looks shameful to go out without clothes on, even for children. Even Adam and Eve felt the shame of nakedness after they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So they went to sew fig leaves to cover it up (see Genesis 3:7). What am I saying here?

Romans 13:14 tells us that we should clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ as believers. That means, without Jesus being put on, there’s shame in exposure. That explains why you will be ashamed when you sin. You’ll not like it because you were not born that way. Jesus is your cloth of righteousness, so the moment you don’t have Him or lose sight of living according to His ways in your consciousness, shame and guilt start showing up.

In the same Romans 13:14, God provided instructions on enforcing living with Christ in your consciousness. That is, do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. That means that just because you are born again doesn’t mean you’re less of a human. No! You are still a human with fleshly tendencies. But the power of God resident in you supersedes those desires. So when you put on Christ in your consciousness, the devil’s suggestive thoughts on fleshly lusts won’t have space to breed in your mind for you to even act on it. Any Christian who sinned lost sight of this. I pray you’ll not be a victim.

You are a blessing.