God's Grace Takes Hold

This morning I began wrestling with the idea of salvation and eternity. Not so much the benefits --who wouldn't want escape from hell? who wouldn't want to "dwell in the house of the Lord forever?" --but the exchange. My spirit for a The Holy Spirit. My sinful --sin-filled, entirely corrupt, putrid, dead spirit exchanged for eternal life in Christ, a new identity. Still sounds like a no-brainer, right? But here's the twisted part of my old nature, this spirit I was to have given up, abandoned, in exchange for new life: I still cling to it. From time to time, I still feel it's mine to correct, condition, control --whatever it is. 

We are triune beings after the image of our Creator. We have a soul, a personality. We have a physical body with senses like sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing; our physical body is grounded in the natural things of our existence. And, we have a spirit, an eternal existence that functions in a spiritual world, unseen and, for believers, in union with God's Spirit. Now we know it's important to protect our bodies, to care for our bodies. As for the soul, who we are, there is not another you in all the world and our soul is unique unto ourselves. But what is the spirit? It is the means by which God's Spirit communicates to us, the place from which our worship is to flow, the place within our bodies where God dwells, and the life's breath, its animating force. But is it mine? Scripture tells us, we are not our own. Not our personality, not our body, not our spirit. All of it is a gift. Our personality is a gift from our Creator who has given to us and developed within us specific likes and dislikes, opinions and experiences to be used for His glory. The guy "with the knack" for fixing things; the lady who just loves to bake. Souls intentionally imbued by God with gifts to serve others and to enjoy His presence. Our bodies are vehicles, enabling us to carry His Spirit, spread the good news of the Gospel, create beauty, extend warmth and compassion, consummate a marriage, bear and deliver life, be ambassadors of Christ for His glory and the enjoyment of His presence. But what is the spirit? Who determines what goes on in there?

At some point in my life, I gave everything over to the Lord. Take it; it's Yours. My old nature did terrible things with her body. My old nature had some really bad personality traits. And that is not to say I have in some way arrived; but I know I am not the same person. And I'm okay with that. My spirit, however, what's with her? There's a day coming when I will no longer breathe --my physical body will cease to function. We all tend to accept that on some level --if not accept it, at least realize it. Have you had that child who wouldn't eat anything without ketchup? One of ours studied nutrition in college. Talk about a 180! Just as we are aware our bodies change over time, we know our souls will also. What control, however, do I have over the spirit within me? What does it mean to have this nature, this life force within us that we can't quite put our finger on? When we can't even comprehend things like "eternity" or the true meaning of "supernatural," how do we understand the significance of something like "spirit?" 

Here's the conclusion to which I have come: the spirit in me, my spirit if you will, is that part of me that reflects the third person of the trinity, God's Holy Spirit. It's the part of me that is connected to Him; He is the tie that binds. When given over to the One True God, His Spirit works to sync the spirit in me up with Him; to love what He loves, to long for those things that bring Him glory, to crave His presence, to empty itself out in adoration of Him. When that spirit in me was not given over to Him, there was no answer to its cries but the voice of whatever wind was set to blowing; love was shallow and fickle, the longings of this spirit were undirected and unanswered, I craved something (I know now it was His presence, but for that time it was marked by an emptiness I could not define), and adoration --true adoration was impossible, as nothing in this world was worthy of it. And this spirit which remains in this body, expressed by the framework of this soul is no more mine than any other part of me. However, unlike those things which shift and change with physiology and the introduction of new external experiences, this spirit, now relinquished to --not on loan to, not sometimes under the control of --relinquished to my Lord and Savior, is changed by His power and His grace. A dead spirit, made alive through Christ, always improving by the power of His Spirit, providing I remain pliable and within reach of His grace. And that's my job, that's what I control --positioning myself close to Him at all times. That is grace. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!