In college, I took a class in lifeguarding. One exercise involved swimming to a panicked, drowning person. We were taught not to get too close to their flailing arms but instead to tread water out of reach until they became exhausted and receptive to our rescue.

It is the same with us.

Sometimes it’s only when we’ve run out of all other options that we are open to rescue. When we are defeated by disease or failure, when we feel under attack, when our willpower is exhausted in our battle against addiction, we are driven to ask a similar question as the apostle Paul did in his struggle with sin. We are experiencing life “in the flesh.”

In our New Testament – “flesh” – does not refer to our sinfulness but instead to our fragile humanity apart from God, powerless to resist our sinful condition. To live “in the flesh” is to live on our own and by our own. The in-the-flesh life runs down and out and always ends in death.

The apostle’s searching question leads to hope of an answer.       

 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)

Every exhausted, played out, out of gas, and feeling “done” believer is carried by this same powerful fourfold truth:

The Spirit dwells in you.

The Spirit is the Spirit of the God who raised Jesus.

Jesus is the Messiah, and you belong to Him.

The God who raised Jesus the Messiah will raise all the Messiah’s people, you included.

Lord, hear my cry for help! I am played out. I have nothing left! I’m ready for you to carry me in your strong arms. Dear God, thank you for coming alongside me now to rescue me.