[Feature Story] How to Become a Man of Spirit who Resembles the Lord
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November 20, 2011 |
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 After we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have to cast away sin and evil by the help of the Holy Spirit and act according to the truth to become God's true children. Our faith will increase and we will come to live completely in the truth. Then, we can be men of spirit who have the heart of the Lord and be loved by God as written in 1 John 5:18. However, there are some people who have stood on the rock of faith and though they have never swayed they stay at a standstill in faith without any progress. In this situation, they have to discover and get rid of subtle fleshly things of the heart. They also have to find evil deep in their nature. Now, we will talk about three reasons why people still can't come into spirit although they are longing for spirit.
First, you must not mistakenly think you are good, righteous, and obedient.
Many people think, in their own righteousness or self-framework, that they are doing what is right and what is good. They might think they are doing a good job. For instance, if you focus on increasing your faith but neglect other duties, you might give others difficulty. This can't be perfectly what is right. Since you think you seek God's kingdom and righteousness above all else, it's never easy for you to discover what you do that is not right. Such things stop you from entering into spirit because you just think your deeds are right according to the word of the Lord and you think you are acting with great goodness.
We have many things that are not perfect in the sight of God before we become men of spirit. We disobey God while we think we are obeying Him. We sometimes have deeds that are not good. We insist on our own opinions. Therefore, listening to the word of God, we have to listen to it thinking 'this is for me' and figuring out what we are short of. If you mistakenly think 'this message is not for me, but for others', you can't help but to stay at the same level of faith.
Then, God leads you to the level of spirit by giving you trials so that you can discover yourself. As for Job, outwardly he looked perfect without blemish, but he still had evil in his heart. He couldn't see his own wrongdoings and faults by himself. So, through trials God let Job find the evil, and even the evil natures, deep in his heart and then God allowed for him to get rid of it. But when we only obey the Word of God, we don't need such trials.
Second, we have to fill up deficiencies of the body.
Deficiencies of the body refer to the state where you lack the basic ability because you haven't gone through the steps you should've gone through in your growth. There are many kinds of deficiencies of the body. There are not just the minor ones, but also the serious ones that cause sins leading to death. If a person has deficiencies of the body, it will result in troubles or uncomfortable situation for him as well as others around him. This is neither virtuous nor gracious.
Many people develop deficiencies of the body because they lack the knowledge or capability to follow the actual process of doing something. Here, 'lacking the knowledge' means they haven't learned something that they should have learned in their growth. They haven't received proper home education nor learned about duties, manners and etiquette. Likewise, if you lack the knowledge, you act within limits the deficiencies of the body. In such a case you must find what your deficiencies are, try to learn the related knowledge one by one and step by step, and then act according to it. Also 'lacking the capability to follow actual process of doing something' refers to the state where you don't act according to what you've learned though you generally know what to do. For instance, you have learned you should brush your teeth before going to bed, but you still haven't been doing it. Then, not brushing your teeth before going to bed will become a habit and cause this deficiency to affect accomplishing other things.
There are also other forms of deficiencies of the body in posture, attitude, and ways of talking. And there are also deficiencies of the body that cause you to have difficult times in submitting to others or understanding others. If you have been raised in self-centeredness in the process of growing up, you can't easily realize that you speak and act only from your own perspective. Such deficiencies of the body sometimes cause you to define personal limits in accomplishing the works for God's kingdom.
Since you become accustomed to deficiencies of the body as habits established over a long period of time, you don't recognize them in yourself and changing and correcting them is not very easy. You must not neglect others' advice but put it in your heart and fill up your deficiencies. Besides, there are also deficiencies created by one's own nature. Negative thoughts arise from his nature and hinder a person from entering into upper levels of faith. In contrast, there are others whose natures have a positive influence on their growth in faith.
Third, we have to realize our arrogance and cast it away.
Since we have seen, heard, and learned the Word of God for a long time we may think that we can discern everything in the truth no matter whether it is related to church or personal matters. But such a thought comes from spiritual arrogance, which leads to passing judgment and condemnation.
In another case, someone loves God, the church, and the shepherd and works faithfully for God's kingdom. But his deeds don't agree with his knowledge of the Word. He does what he likes to do diligently, but he avoids what he doesn't like to do. Such deeds are not from heart of obeying the order, but it stems from arrogance.
To come into spirit, we must be wary of such arrogance as written in Proverbs 18:12. We must not think lightly of arrogance but completely get rid of every form of arrogance. We have to keep church order perfectly. We must not discern things with our own knowledge. We just have to cultivate our hearts with humbleness, service, sacrifice, and consideration for others, and then we can become men of spirit who give out the fragrance of Christ.
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