The Focus of Your Thinking

In a context challenging the believer to awaken and live an overcoming life, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:14), there is a two-fold imperative.

First, it literally it says “be endued” with Jesus. Take hold of the provision of Christ in you. You have put on or been clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:27). So put on the clothing of Christ. Galatians speaks of the provision we already have and Romans speaks of accessing that provision by faith. The bottom line is that to live an overcoming life, we must depend on the overcoming life of Jesus.

Second, don’t give forethought to ways to indulge your flesh. The word provision means forethought. Don’t think about ways to sin. “Make not provision for the flesh” is not so much about tangible imprudence that makes it easy to sin, but about the intangible thought process and forethought that leads to flesh-indulgence.

You can set up tangible standards and guardrails (and you should as the Holy Spirit Himself leads you), but if you give thought to ways you might yet indulge your flesh, you likely will . . . and already have in your heart. The key is to focus your thinking on Jesus. He is the clothing or armor of protection we need. He is the overcoming life.

The simplicity of this Scripture admonishes us to focus on Jesus, trusting His invincible life and thereby not focusing on or giving forethought to ways of indulging evil desire.