© Copyright Harleston Grapevine 2009

News brings us devastation in Pakistan through the worst floods ever recorded and famine and fire in Russia. This year alone we have witnessed tragedy and inconvenience all around the globe. Nature is violent but so is the heart of mankind. Man's inhumanity to man has reached epic proportions through terrorism and war.

Life and death appear to be the law of the jungle. A lion stalks a gazelle. A heron stands motionless on the edge of a pond, poised to strike a fish. Each survives on the other's demise.

The principle that nothing lives unless something dies extends beyond nature to our daily walk with God. Interests of the flesh must succumb to the interests of the Spirit, or else the Spirit must succumb to the interests of the flesh (Romans 8:13).

We cannot be committed to Christ and to the world at the same time. We cannot be filled with the Spirit if we are protecting the life of selfish interests. Jesus said, 'whoever loses his life for my sake will save it, but whoever insists on keeping his life will lose it.' (Luke 9:24),

Christ died that we may live. We must put to death our sinful nature in order to live in Christ. Will you trust Christ for your life?

Colin Basham