The Spirit Within

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20corinthians%202&version=NIV

Here is what I've been reading and thinking about the last few days. I've been hanging out in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and I don't believe I've been disappointed. More and more, I find out how little I really know the Bible. I know much about the Bible. I know many, or most, of the stories. I know what most of the books of the Bible are about, or I feel that way sometimes. But I'm finding my knowledge is not coupled with understanding. I know what it says, but do I really know what it means? Do I know what a scripture looks like with flesh on it? Not really. I've been a puffed-up and prideful young Christian, with a long way to go. That being said, here is what I have been looking at...

"For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him?"

I've been married for almost a year now. The scriptures describes marriage as two becoming one flesh; two separate identities are joined in such a way that they cannot be identified without the other. They are one. While I've not yet been married a full year, more and more Hannah and I find we know each other more. I know her thoughts, she knows mine. We are moving towards a better picture of two becoming one. We know each others' desires and hopes without having ask one another, because we are inseparably joined together.

What does this have anything to do with that scripture above? "For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him?" Before marriage, I did not know Hannah as well as I do now. But now, the two have become one. While this is still a work in progress, I see this at work. The two have become one, and I have a closer and deeper connection to her heart. I relate to her at an intimate level. I don't know what's going on inside her heart and head like she does, but I know better than anyone else. Here is where we make our transition to understanding the spiritual realities being presented here by the Holy Spirit.

"In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."

In order to understand the thoughts of God, we must have his Spirit. It is his Spirit that reveals the love and mercy of God to us. It is his Spirit that reveals what God has freely given us. Without the revelation of the Spirit, the natural mind perceives God incorrectly. For instance, this scripture tells us we have received the Spirit of God so that we may understand what God has freely given us. Yet, most of Christianity is works-based. Much of Christianity relates to God based upon how well they are able to walk a straight line and be "righteous" before God.

But the scriptures teach us plainly that "it is by grace, through faith, that we are saved. Not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, so that no man can boast."

Even more so, God withholds no good gift His children. To the man needing wisdom He says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." He is generous, and gives it out to his children unbiased and unashamedly.

Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, we are adopted as sons and daughters of the Almighty. As it says in Galatians, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." And God's promises are faithful.

This is why it is so important to "live by the Spirit." Walking with the Spirit really means to stay close to the heart of God, to know his thoughts and desires, and to know "what God has freely given us." Through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, God makes himself totally available to us. Because Jesus Christ paid the penalty of our sin, we can have an intimate relationship with God. He freely gives us His Spirit, freely clothes us in the righteousness of Christ (even though we are unrighteous), and freely calls us his children. This can only be realized through the Holy Spirit. For who knows the mind of God except His Spirit? Through faith in Jesus Christ, we who believe are being made one with Christ, sealed by the Spirit, guaranteed of the promises of God. Every promise is "yes and amen" in Jesus Christ, and by faith we receive all that God has promised.

If I examine myself, I have not been walking by the Spirit as I could. Even that is a free opportunity. There are no works, no way to merit the Holy Spirit. Jesus said ask and you will receive. So the only thing we can do is by faith believe his promises, and receive from God what he has freely given us in Christ Jesus.