Romans 8: 6 - 11 NKJV
My friend Dennis and I have had a ongoing debate for some time over the superiority of cell phone operating systems. Dennis, it seems, is fond of his Apple IOS independent operating system device. I, on the other hand, prefer the more readily available Android operating system. There are a few other of my friends who have chosen to cross over to the dark side and join the call of the Apple as well. I pray for their souls daily. In all seriousness, the debate which Dennis and I have had over our different operating systems pales in comparison to that of the inner operating systems we as humans possess. Scripture tells us in Genesis 1 that all mankind was created in Gods holy image {Genesis 1: 27}. In the image of God we were created. That means that all mankind, from me to you to the guy down the block, all were created in Gods image. Now, to illustrate how askew my thinking was as a young christian, I believed that God looked exactly like me. That is, God resembled my fleshly appearance to a T. Well, we all know from life experience that not everyone looks the same. Genetics and environment have all combined to create the images of those people whom we see on a daily basis. But is this the appearance which resembles our heavenly Fathers image? I would suggest that it isn't. For the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6 that we are indeed spirit in our identity nature. Our spirit identity is what defines us. Dennis is fond of describing our fleshly bodies as merely "Vessels" for the indwelling spirit within us. I tend to agree with him on that. The question we then must ask is, which spirit is it that dwells within us? Well, the apostle John had an answer for that.
2By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus bChrist has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
! John 4: 2 - 6 NKJV
It is in first John where the apostle tells of the spirits which will be present in our earthly vessels. We know that every spirit that confesses that Christ Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. Likewise, each spirit that does not confess that Christ Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God. For these are the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. The spirit of error? Well, I think that this spirit can best be described as satan. Satan, the roaring lion who roams about seeking whom he may devour. Satan, who took it upon himself to try and place himself above God. THIS, is the spirit of error. So, how is it that we come to be intertwined with these spirit identities? Well, you may recall that due to the fall in the garden of eden, that each of us was born into our sin nature. All have sinned and have from birth have received the spirit of error. So, is this what now defines us? I would say no. For our original spirit identity, our original operating system, was one where the spirit of our heavenly Father was within us. This is our identity, the very image of God in which we were all created. Despite the reality of mankinds fall into sin, our original indwelling spirit identity was one of God. Indeed, our own "Spiritual reset" takes place as we confess the Lord Christ Jesus and accept Him into our hearts. When we do this, the spirit of error which had hijacked our true identity, is replaced by our true operating system, our true spirit identity. I will not argue with Dennis over that operating system.
~Scott~
Dennis demonstrates his I Phone at 1,600 feet on the Angels Rest trail, thanks Buddy
No comments:
Post a Comment