When we walk and are according to the spirit, we will mind the things of the Spirit (v. 5). To mind the things of the Spirit is to set our mind on the things of the Spirit, that is, to always have our mind occupied with the things of the Spirit, which are the things concerning Christ. From the beginning of the day, our mind should be fully occupied with the things concerning Christ, such as His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit who now indwells us. When certain persons take a vacation, their mind is still fully occupied with their business. They care only for that business; to them their business is everything. Our mind should be occupied with and set on Christ in this way. Our mind should even be addicted to Christ. In the Song of Songs the seeker was sick with love for the Lord (2:5; 5:8). Within her mind there was nothing but the Lord. We need to have such a mind.
Though we love the Lord to some extent, our mind may be mainly occupied by things other than Christ. As long as our mind is set on other things, we are not according to the spirit. If our mind is occupied with things other than Christ, it will be easy for us to lose our temper. If we are a person according to the spirit, our mind will be fully occupied by the Lord. In this way, our mind is made spiritual. The natural mind is very troublesome and hard to control, but we can make our mind a spiritual mind, a mind of the spirit. We can cause our spirit to spread into our mind, making our mind the mind of the spirit. The expression translated “the mind set on the spirit” in Romans 8:6 is literally “the mind of the spirit.” Philippians 2:5 says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” First Corinthians 2:16 says, “We have the mind of Christ.” The mind of Christ is a mind that is filled, occupied, and saturated with Christ. Such a mind helps us to continually walk and be according to the spirit.
We need to realize that because we have the law of the Spirit of life and the all-inclusive Spirit in us, we do not have to be in the flesh or do things according to the flesh. The law of the Spirit of life and the all-inclusive Spirit are like a great deposit in our spiritual bank account, which causes us to be rich and short of nothing. Thus, Romans 8:12 says, “So then, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh.” Before we were saved, we were debtors to the flesh. However, because we have a great deposit—the law of the Spirit of life and the all-inclusive Spirit—within us, we now owe nothing to the flesh. Furthermore, we have a heart to follow the Lord, we have seen the vision, and we daily practice to exercise and release our spirit to be a person according to the spirit. As such persons, we are no longer debtors to the flesh.
Romans 8:13 says, “If you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” To put the practices of the body to death means to kill our old habits, which is to no longer do anything according to our old habits. We are all habitual; our daily living is ninety percent according to our habit. Although we love the Lord, are in the church, and do not commit gross sins, we may still live, walk, behave, and have our being mostly according to habit. It does not take long to build up a habit. Our habits are built up by our nature, culture, and ethical and religious teachings. We may be a slow or quick person by nature. Perhaps we excuse our slowness or quickness, saying that there is nothing we can do about it, because we were born that way. Hence, we act slowly or quickly according to habits that have been built up by our nature. Our habit is also built up by our culture, whether it is American, Chinese, or another culture. Furthermore, regardless of culture, all people are taught to be ethical. Therefore, our habits are spontaneously built up with ethics. Finally, everyone is influenced by religion. No matter how we live, we all live a habitual life, a life altogether according to habit.
To live according to our old habits is altogether versus the revelation in Romans 8 that the law of the Spirit of life is operating within us and that the all-inclusive Spirit is within us as our life and our person. We should live by Him, be filled and saturated with Him, and walk and be according to Him. To live according to our old habits is versus God’s economy, which is to work Himself into our being and become one with us so that we may take Him as our life and our person, walk according to Him, and be absolutely according to Him. Now that we have seen this vision, what we need is the daily, continual practice of the vision. If we practice in this way daily and continually, we will kill our habits, which are the practices of our mortal body, and be a person fully according to the spirit.