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Archippus was singled out probably because he was neglectful of his mission that he has received from the Lord. The path of the Christian is not an easy one, and there are many challenges, set backs, difficulties, and temptations that need to be overcome. If we are not vigilant enough, if we do not seek God with all our strength, heart, and mind, with all our being, it is easy to be sidetracked. Wide is the road that leads to destruction, narrow is the one that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us all be watchful and constantly pray for God's guidance for us and for each other. When we truly see the worth and preciousness of the mission that we have received from the Lord, we will not treat it lightly, but as the highest honour, as our life's mission.

Paul advised us to pray constantly and persistently, be watchful and alert, and with thanksgiving. Praying is communicating with God; it is the highest honour and we cannot treat it as a chore, but with an alert spirit and a thankful heart. Constant prayer also strengthens our bond to God. These advices puts the spirit into a right attitude and relationship with God, and prevent us from being distracted by and lost in unwholesome thoughts. When we focus on God all the time, we learn from Him; we take on His attributes and we become more like Him. Let us keep our thoughts on God!

Verse 28 promises the believer that all that happens to them is worked by God for their good. The two qualifications of this promise are "those who love him" and "those who have been called". This promise, then, is for the truly committed follower of Christ. What a reassuring promise! This verse is really comforting to me as I have been struggling with a sense of alienation from God in the past few days. God's love speaks and comforts in His Words!

When Christ comes, God's glory "will be revealed in us" and will fill us. We will be made anew like all creation and will live eternally in the house of God. Creation itself "will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." Freedom awaits!

Someone who's lost hope lives as if they are not living; they don't see a point to it. Their life has no purpose, no goal, no orientation. One who eagerly expects a better future, however, lives with that sense of purpose, with joy, with direction; they whole life is organized around that hope, the realization of that hope. The "Christian hope" is eternal life to come, for God has prepared a city for us. The hope of this better life, this eternal life of bliss with God motivates our lives now, that we live every single moment of it in eager expectation, and for God, as gratitude for Him, for we live in and through Him, now and forever.

The Holy Spirit helps us pray to God with "groans that words cannot express." We're powerless without the Spirit, for "we do not know what we ought to pray for." Likewise, Jesus, who reconciles us to God, also intercedes for us that God may forgive our sins. We take so many things in our lives for granted, not realizing that the Spirit works through us all the time and saves us from many troubles. To appreciate His work and presence, a sense of gratitude for everything is needed.

Obedience prepares the child for obedience to God, our real Father. And just as God, though just and firm, is infinitely loving, so need the fathers and mothers model themselves after the heavenly Father in their upbringing of their children. When edifying the child, the parents need always be patient and have a loving heart. How wise is God who teaches us divine virtues through family life!

As the result of one man's transgression, sin entered the world and all creation have been accursed with suffering. This suffering, however, is not a mere punishment, but also a preparation for the perfection and glory that is to come. It's God's way of tilling the ground for the planting of the seed. In suffering, we look forward to eternal life "that will be revealed in us", brought by another Man's sacrifice. Jesus suffered that we may share with Him eternal life after His triumph over sin. Our present sufferings, then, shall unite us with Him that died for us so that we may be reborn with Him in eternal life. Do not lose heart, then, for a glorious future awaits us! We shall reap what we sow.

This idea of sonship and daughtership of God permeates through out this section, in the words and images of "adoption", "heirs", "pains of childbirth". The promise is co-inheritence with Christ the kingdom of God, the liberation from "bondage to decay and brought to the glorious freedom of the children of God". We are given great hope for this promised inheritance, "if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory". Let us not lose heart, then, but be steadfast in our faith, and await patiently for our birth as sons and daughters of God to come. Paul says in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. If we've heard the testimony of the Spirit, we'll never once doubt again our rightful sonship and daughtership of God, we'll no longer be afraid or worrying, for God will take care us, in the past, now, and in the future. Referring to God as our Daddy means an intimate, personal relationship with God; it is emotional and spiritual, it is an intense feeling and longing, and we feel with all our being that our existence is because of God, that without Him, we are not. If we do not have this kind of personal assurance, our life will be akin to 'hell' - full of fear and darkness, because of an alienation from God, from our Father. To receive this assurance we must seek God earnestly and cry out to him like lost children, then He will come and dwell in us, and we will never be lost again. "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." God loves us so much; He want to be there for us, to be in our lives. Let us open ourselves to Him.

To "mortify" or "put to death" the deeds of the body means self-denial and harsh physical discipline; some who does this would be an ascetic, living on very little and fasting, perhaps avoiding the distractions of the world by living as a hermit, and practicing abstinence. Yet sometimes, some one may "mortify" the deeds of their body while living a relatively normal life. The key is whether or not the mind is detached from the desires of the flesh, whether one is tempted. One may be a harsh ascetic on the outside, but may still harbour lusty thoughts and cravings for good food. It all depends on one's attitude, whether one is "led by the Spirit" or not. To be "led" by the Spirit means to live the life of the Spirit; in practice it means to think only beautiful thoughts, pray constantly, to be pure in body and mind, and to hold the Spirit constantly as one's focus. These two are not contradictory, but rather complementary or synonymous. The flesh and the Spirit are at war with each other; either we serve the one or the other, there is no middle ground. The Spirit leads us only if we willingly follow It and do not rebel. So this first step, the will, or choice, depends on us, on whether we will stand the temptations of the flesh. And once we decide with all our being to serve the Spirit, the Spirit takes over and leads us on the beautiful and joyful life of the Spirit. Nothing will ever be the same.

We don't have to sin nor are we compelled to sin if we really have the Spirit of Christ within us and if we focus our mind on the Spirit. The Bible says that "we have an obligation - but not to the sinful nature". We have been delivered from the law of sin and of death by the sacrifice of Christ. If we continue to live in sin, then Christ died in vain! The Scripture never tells us that we cannot break free from sin; on the contrary, it gives us so much hope and strength in our victory over it. The battle has already been won, by Christ. As long as we keep our mind in Him and pray constantly in faith, He will not deliver us into temptation, but keep us from the evil one.

These virtues, in a way, derive from the fact that we are now one in Christ, and to be one we cannot lie to each other or have any divisions. Moreover, as we are "being renewed in knowledge in the image of [our] Creator", we are taking on virtues that Christ has, such as compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. As followers of Christ, let us try our best to live like him! These virtues are importance everywhere and for everyone, because they renew the world and restore it to its original state - Eden or paradise.

Because they are "merely words", we may think that a bad language once in a while may not be much of a big deal. But remember what Jesus said, "What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'" Words have weight. Afterall, "in the beginning was the Word." The Word was the source of creation. God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. Words are powerful. As we speak, so we become. So if we have the Spirit of Christ in us, we will not take our own words in vain. Let us all speak consciously, as we think, and never with false or bad words defile our heart or betray the Spirit. If we realize the weightiness of words, we will break free of sins of the tongue. Only when we recognize them for what they are - sins - then we can break free from them, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:9 states clearly that "if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." Therefore, one cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Yet to have received the Spirit is only the beginning. We need to constantly set our mind on the Spirit and submit ourselves totally to It. This is a process, as we grow in the Spirit and learn to follow its ways. We need to let go of old habits, to let our flesh, our own rebellious will die, in order that the Spirit may dwell fully in us and we may live through It.

The biological explanation for ****, of course, is that it is a basic drive that keeps us propagating. It generates in us good feelings and we're drawn to it. And yet, **** serves the flesh. It blinds our judgment and leads our mind astray, making it set on "earthly things" rather than on the things of the Spirit. To keep sexual desires from controlling us we must set our mind on the Spirit at all times, knowing that we're no longer slaves of sin, but reborn in the Spirit. We are spiritual beings and our sinful nature has no power over us. Most importantly, we must submit ourselves totally to Christ, remembering that sin and desires have been crucified. We need to pray to God and ask Him not to lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

To set your mind on the things of the Spirit means to live according to the Spirit, and to be dead totally to the sinful nature. In Galatians 5:19-21, the things of the flesh are listed as "sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like." If we set our minds on these things, or if the things on which we set our mind lead to these things, then we know we're not living according to the Spirit. But we know we're walking in the Spirit when we grow in "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control," and we are then free from the Law, for "against such there is no law." To set our minds on the Spirit, it seems, depends mostly on our will - whether we choose to follow the Spirit or not, and how deep our faith and conviction is. Yet as we mature in faith, less and less we do according to our own will, but we're led always by the Spirit. We then submit totally to the Spirit and become one with It. Faith, then, is no longer a matter of belief, but becomes a way of Life.

To set our heart/mind on things above means we must consciously direct our thoughts and intent to heavenly things and God's infinite goodness, not on fleshly things, which lead to desire, temptation, and destruction. The Bible points out the importance and power of thought, and its role in our salvation. As we think, so we become. We can either constantly connect with Christ and think like Him (that's probably part of being in Christ), or we can let our mind wander and be goaded by so many distracting and enticing things in the human world. This does not mean that we're "too heavenly minded to be any earthly good," but rather that while living in this world, we live our life for God, fully conscious of the reality beyond, much more real and permanent than the humanly world. In everything we do, we do for God, in Christ. We keep our Spirit alive while living in this physical world, which is but temporary.

The law is unable to save us because we were slaves to sin, and the law could not redeem us from such a state even though it was holy. The weak link is the flesh, our sinful nature. It takes faith in Jesus Christ to save us from slavery to sin, that we may die to the flesh and be reborn in the Spirit with Christ. God, please keep us from falling into temptation and may we always walk in the Spirit. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen.

Judging by what Paul said earlier, "you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God," (italics my own) living in Christ is a continual growing process; we may have died to the law, but "[belonging] to another" and "[bearing] fruit to God" is a gradual process and not immediate. Using Paul's metaphor, he death of the first husband is certain, but the marriage to the second husband is a "might". Also, we died to the Law, not to sin. Even though we are now free from the Law, we're not yet freed from the influence and temptation of sin. Therefore, it seems to me that the "I" here refers to one who's regenerate but not yet mature.