Rom 8:5-8, 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The battle that is ever before us is to know if we are of the flesh or the Spirit. What is fed is what wins. Carnal pleasure, worldly profit and honor, the things of the flesh, are what unregenerate people mind and pursue and it is death. On the other hand, those after the Spirit are concerned with righteousness, God’s favor, the welfare of the soul, the concerns of eternity, and that leads to life. They think and act differently because they are under the influence of the Spirit.
The simplest way to understand the verses above is to employ Col 3:1-3 to our thinking, which reads, “1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
A sanctified soul is a living soul, and that of life and peace. Spiritually minded men are the only living persons in a spiritual sense. They discern spiritual things; they breathe after them, savor and relish them. They walk in a spiritual manner. They are not only alive, but lively in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty unto others. Those are the ones that please God.