“Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:22-23 KJV
Man (woman) is made up of a spirit, soul and body. Your whole spirit, soul and body should be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Education (school) does not affect you wholly. The focus of it is to affect your mind (soul) and maybe your body (if you indulge in sporting activities). The school does not necessarily provide for you spiritually because at the end of your academic journey you are not required to give account of your spiritual growth.
What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and his soul is lost? When you die, you continue to live in eternity. The soul is real. When you are dead it is just the body that stops functioning. All men are sinners and without the blood of Jesus, immediately you die you shall go to hell. Man is not just a body. Where you have people only their bodies (their muscles) by going to the gym to build their biceps, triceps and legs, when you die it is just meat. What about your soul? Some spend all their money fixing their hair, their faces (make up and all manner of skin treatments); you are only developing your earthly house and neglecting your soul and spirit.
When you make it to heaven you will be given another body. The essence of church is to develop another aspect of you which is neglected by the school, the gym, the salon and the make up studio. Jesus did not come to save the outside, He came to save the spirit/soul. That is why when you are born again, if you are fair you remain fair, if you are tall you remain tall and you have kinky hair you still have kinky hair. But rather, you now have a new spirit. Before salvation, all three parts of your being are rotten. You have no consciousness whatsoever f what is good and evil. However when you become born again because one part of you has been changed, when you are doing something wrong you become conscious of it.
Your body still desires to sin but it is your spirit (heart) that prompts you to be weary of that sin. Your salvation has no immediate effect on your physical body. Salvation is something that changes only the spirit. That is why the scripture admonishes us to workout our own salvation with fear and trembling. When you are born again, your spirit is a tiny little baby. Your spirit is a new born baby. Until your spirit becomes mature, the body will have a filled day doing what it pleases. Your body and mind are still operating at their full capacity.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1-2 KJV
You can be born again in the spirit without your mind being renewed. When your spirit starts to grow, the devil does not like it at all. The fact that you don’t know that something is there doesn’t mean it’s not there. Now that you are born again, God what’s you to grow until you become a spiritual man. What then are the characteristics of a spiritual man?
A spiritual man despises earthly things. “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:2-4 KJV
A spiritual man must be able to live by faith. When you are dominated by your flesh, you follow what you see. “(for we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:7-8 KJV
A spiritual man accepts suffering ( you choose to suffer). When you are immature, you refuse to learn much but if you are mature you sacrifice and pay the price to learn because you value the benefits of it. Don’t be wise too late.
A spiritual man bears fruits. A baby cannot have a child until a certain age. “And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.” Zechariah 8:5 KJV. Children play. They do not engage in productive things to beat fruits. When you are immature as a Christian, you don’t get involved in anything useful or fruitful. When you grow spiritually, you start to bear fruit spiritually. Many of us like to attend church but do not like to contribute to anything spiritually.
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;” Colossians 1:9-10 KJV
God is expecting you to develop until a point where you bear fruit. The more fruit bearing you are the more mature you are. Only spiritual babies will sit in the church doing nothing. You only come to church to receive blessings. When the church is encouraging you to serve, it is an opportunity to grow spiritually. A baby only demands help and attention. They cry about any and every thing. Feed me! Carry me! I want to sleep! I’m hot! I’m cold! Sing for me! Change my diaper!
When you are a spiritual man you become a teacher too. For certain people, you are always receiving counseling all the time for one problem or trouble. You need to grow up and bear fruit to help people (others).
“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14 KJV
My prayer for you today is that your begin to desire to be a more ‘spiritual man’. May your focus be hinged towards growing in the wisdom and knowledge of Hod to nourish your spirit and soul in anticipation of living in eternity. May the Holy Spirit guide us in all truth and I. The perfect will of a God for our lives.
With Love, Esinam.
Virtuous Living 