The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. - Romans 8:6-11
I think that a great deal of tension arises in Christians because they are one person living in two different kingdoms. There are two loyalties: one to the devil and one to Christ. Each loyalty has a claim on us: one was our boss since birth, where we are led by our desires to sin, selfishness and death. The other is our boss since choosing Christ, where we are led by our desires to follow Christ.
The kingdom of the devil has its own systems of reward based on self-centeredness. Manipulating those very desires to advance ourselves, the devil tricks us into thinking we are securing our own kingdom while we are, in fact, building his. Part of this manipulation is to hide the fact that the end result of this kind of living is death.
The kingdom of Christ also has its own system of reward based on Christ-centeredness. Teaching us that the desires for God himself, rather than our own advancement, are the source of "life and peace"
Because one of these kingdom has been with us since our beginning, it is our default allegiance. Changing that allegiance in our daily lives is a continual series of choices away from self-interest to God interest. Fortunately, God provides his own spirit to counteract the 'default' allegiance and lead us away from death into life. But wanting to choose God because of God rather than for a way of extending and enhancing our own kingdom is tricky business that requires actually trusting God to take care of all of the things that would normally worry us. Today I prayed that God would use his superior knowledge to make things go the way he wants them and show me how he wants me to participate, even if it weakens my personal kingdom. That is my pledge of allegiance.
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