Daily Sacrifice, August 28 (13:13-14)
“Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof”— Romans 13:13, 14.
THESE were the verses that spoke to the conscience of Augustine of Hippo and brought him to yield his life to Christ.
God created man for His glory. As originally made, he was designed to have authority over all the lower creation. But sin has brought man down to the low level of “the beasts that perish” (Psa. 49:12), so that he readily becomes the slave of all kinds of fleshly lusts and passions which tend to degradation and dishonor. But when born from above, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, man is renewed in “the image of Him that created him” (Col. 3:10), thus enabling him to triumph over perverted appetites and keep the body in the place of subjection (1 Cor. 9:27). In this way, the body glorifies God (1 Cor. 6:20), and is delivered from the power of carnal lusts, so fulfilling the “righteousness of the law” (Rom. 8:4).