The soul and the spirit exist in the body of every human
being. Many people equate the two as one entity, but the Bible and many learned
scholars realize that they function separately (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Animals
have a soul as well, but not a spirit. They have a mind, will and emotions just
like we do. The soul dictates our behavior. It is the expression of who we are:
our personality, our choices and our feelings.
The soul is easily swayed by and finds consolation in the
desires of the body. For instance, some foods we eat for our body, also comfort
our soul. A physically loving relationship may also fill our soul with feelings
of love. The soul registers every joy and heartache in our life, which take
their toll on our mental and emotional well-being. We eventually run out of
energy in our soul, because it is carnal and fleshly. We need Christ in our
life.
Prior to salvation through Christ, our spirit is dead in
sin (Ephesians 2:1,5; Colossians 2:13). The unsaved person only has a
soul and body, with a deceased spirit within them, leaving a God-shaped hole
that prevents them from living as a whole person. Everyone craves completion.
We try relationships, addictions, job promotions, a family, a noble cause to
promote, and so many other things in the hopes of finding fulfillment. Yet,
when we reach our goal, it provides empty pleasure, because our spirit is still
dead in sin.
Once our spirit is Born Again through salvation provided by
none other than Jesus Christ, we daily submit our soul to the Spirit of God. If
we allow our thoughts, emotions and choices to dictate our behavior, we often
destroy our fellowship with God. At other times, we rely on our self-effort to
emulate the Spirit in order to make Godly choices. Sometimes, we even vacillate
back and forth between being led by our soul and our spirit. The Spirit of God
uses His Word to divide our soul and spirit, until we walk continually in the
Spirit (Hebrews 4:12).
If our soul gains ascendancy over our spirit, we live a
carnal life. However, as we bring our soul to the cross of Christ, our soul
gradually dies to its desires. Through Bible reading and prayer our spirit
grows stronger. The desires of our flesh and the inventions of our soul
eventually submit to God’s Spirit within us. God teaches us to walk in the
Spirit moment by moment, allowing our soul to reflect His spirit (Galatians
3:1-3). We come to the place where all we crave is God’s will in our life, so
that we will live a life complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10).
Prayer:
Father God, we are so glad that we are no longer dictated
to by the negative thoughts and emotions of our soul. We gladly put them on
Your altar, so that You can give us the mind of Christ instead (Philippians
2:5). You sanctify our soul according to Your plan for our life (1
Corinthians 2:16). Then, we no longer live by humanistic opinions, false
worldly wisdom and carnal, man-made rules. We rise above susceptibility to
Satan’s deception. As You crucify the carnality in our soul, we choose to
follow the direction of Your Spirit rather than the desires of our body and
soul during each moment of the day (Hebrews 4:12).
Thought for the Day:
We can trust in the faithfulness of our High
Priest to bring us into a closer union with Himself, as we willingly lay our
soul on the sacrificial altar of God.
