2021-03-26
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Today I’m commanded to write about the contrast between flesh and Spirit. How odd that we are made of flesh and bone. Our bodies are amazing servo mechanisms that have such well-organized systems to carry out functions of life. We even have a spirit that feels things and reacts to phenomena from within (like illness or response emotionally to a toxic workplace) and from without (like hateful behavior of another person or people). Our spirit contains our beliefs and self-image, for example. As you can see there are both tangible and intangible things in a life. Some people are open to the Holy Spirit’s teaching and some are not. As much as is known about the human brain, scientists still have a long way to go before they know everything. Our lives are complicated, which is why our wise Creator knows we can’t live successfully without human relationships and a relationship with Him. We’ve all learned something about this in the last year, due to the need to shelter in because of the Covid 19 virus.
No discussion of this topic is complete without including the Holy Spirit, our God’s Spirit, which has all His goodness, wisdom, and kindness that He imparts to His human creation. One can’t see the Spirit, but he can experience the consequences of following His advice or not. This person can gain confidence to try new things or to obey the sometimes- tough demands of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is normally transparent to those who question His commands. He may delay answering a prayerful request, if the time isn’t right for maximum benefit to us. I certainly learned this in my own past. The demands of the Spirit are always beneficial to us, but the demands of the flesh lead to death. GA 5: 16-17, “Let the Spirit direct your lives and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do.”
One point that should be made is about limits the Holy Spirit places on Himself. 1 COR 10: 13, “Every [test of your faith] that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps His promise, and He will never let you be tested beyond your maximum power to remain firm. He will give you the strength to endure and so provide you a way out.” It is through the Holy Spirit that God does these things. Just as God has said, He will allow only so much evil before He draws the line [RO 3: 25-26]. The story of Job is a good example, and the same can be said of the story of Esther. A life led by the flesh can hardly be a happy or peaceful one. Sometimes physical violence results and other times the evil takes the form of emotional abuse. It is analogous to a body which is physically neglected leading to illness and early death. Allowing the flesh to lead in one’s life is likely to cause regression spiritually too. Think of a student from an impoverished home who gets in the habit of falling in with the wrong people and skipping his classes. His intellect is starved, as is his sense of ethics. What I’m trying to express is that the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual parts that make up a human being all need to be nourished and work in concert with each other. Letting the flesh lead in our lives interferes with the work of the Holy Spirit.
People who are open to the intervention of the Holy Spirit are free to believe in Christ’s teaching, love as He showed us, and enjoy the many benefits of this kind of faith. We who believe want to please our Lord and thus, join Him in His work. We are eager for justification, the kind that comes when one takes responsibility for his own sins, confesses them openly to God with all confidence [EPH 3: 12], and proclaims genuinely faith in Jesus Christ. Our loving God was even willing to justify people like Abraham, who lived long before Christ was on the scene [GN 15: 6]. When one is faithfully obedient to God, He thinks eternally (not just about earthly things). He not only studies God’s word, but he conveys it to those willing to listen with accuracy and asks himself, “what kind of legacy will I leave when my time to leave earth comes?” With obedient faith in our Lord, one can look forward to his glorification (that time when God decides it’s time for this person to come home to heaven for eternity with Him).
PRAYER: O Most Holy Father, we come to Your mighty throne to express our understanding of the differences between the flesh and Your Spirit. Our gratitude for sending the Spirit to us knows no bounds. We love You for loving us enough to send Your teachings through Him to us and for instructing Your obedient Son to die for us. Because of His sacrifice, we who believe are justified [RO 4: 3], our sins are forgiven [1 JN 1: 9], and salvation is ours [JN 3: 16]. Your use of Your unparalleled power to bring goodness to the earth is without blemish. Our obedient Lord sent Your Spirit to us, to bring benefit and lead us to spiritual maturity. You are right that we are ready for spiritual meat and not just babies needing milk [HE 5: 12-13]. Our rights are balanced by responsibilities, and we are willing to carry out those responsibilities. We take joy in conveying the Gospel of Jesus Christ, joining You in Your work, and working to leave a legacy that pleases You and blesses others. We ask only for Your continuing presence and intervention in our lives. This prayer we offer up in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: This discussion of the flesh vs. the Spirit is too important to give it short shrift. Therefore, the Holy Spirit has instructed me to continue it next week. We learn together from what the Holy Spirit leads me to write. As long as God’s will is that I serve Him this way, all of us can benefit. As I look back on the 30 + years that He has been having me write to you, I stand in awe that we all need Him as much as we do. Nor did I think there was so much He knew we needed to know about Him. I have a wish about which I hope you will join me in prayer. It is that my “intellectual property”—the legal name for these many letters, will not be lost and forgotten after my own physical death. God’s teaching is eternal—righteous in the past, present, and future. We have been told that Christ is eternally the same, in the past, the present, and the future [HE 13: 8]. This is one of the few constants that give me enormous confidence in Him. Our Lord wrote the Bible as a “Love Letter” to all His human creation. It makes sense that He loves all He has created, even though we humans so often disappoint Him with our sinfulness. We are all sinners, and Christ’s Atonement can grant us eternal forgiveness and peace. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always.
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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