Influences and Slavery
The Seed that we Sow today Determine to Fruit we Harvest in Life
Reading in the fifth chapter of Galatians, there is an interesting argument about influences. One is seen as slavery and one is seen as freedom. In the end, these influences turn into a lifestyle or determine our future for years to come. We are told that the process is like fruit that grows on a tree. Those who follow selfish or fleshly patterns will eventually harvest fruit that we’d rather not eat. We have apple trees on the family home, but they were not cultivated. Every year, the tent worms built their nests in branches, worms were in the misshapen fruit, and some apples were rotten on the limb.
We would occasionally visit area farms to buy vegetables and fruit that were grown with diligent care. Those apples were nearly perfect, flavorful, and rarely had a worm that would be discovered when bitten.
The Soul of the Inner Man has multiple functions or faculties. We understand that there are two dominant faculties in the Soul that can exercise great influence over how we interact in life. It helps to know that the Soul seems to be the interface with the many RELATIONSHIPS in our lives. The Soul also appears to be the R&D part of our being that experiments with the truths or beliefs that we hold in the Belief System of the Heart. This allows us to refine Good Ideas/Beliefs from Bad Ideas/Beliefs.
The Soul mirrors the body in many ways. The body has senses, like pleasure or pain, for example. If something hurts, signals are sent out that this is a bad idea. When something brings pleasure, the signals tell us that it is a good idea. (Not all pain or pleasure should determine the ultimate value of anything). The value is most things should not be measured IN THE MOMENT, but in what is achieved IN THE FUTURE as well. The best of all decisions have pleasure now and benefits later.
The Soul is all about relationships of all kinds. Like how we relate to people, money, authority, fun, trouble, God, our senses, challenges, or opportunities.
To boil this down to how the Inner Man should operate, the Heart uses truth of which the purest form is the Bible, to build the Belief System. This is the genesis of faith that we need as fuel. The Flesh relies on your intelligence, strength, courage, and capacity to fulfill your wants and desires in a mostly self-serving manner. The Flesh draws much of its understanding, opportunities, and resources from Society.
The Spirit draws upon what faith you have stored in your Heart. But, the Soul has an endowment from God in the form of the Holy Spirit, which is power, to take what you believe into the physical world in a way that the Flesh and Society cannot. To Walk in the Spirit is to willingly and determinately choose to use your truth-sourced faith to be powered by the power of the Holy Spirit that pleases God. While this isn’t easy, we will get better at it the more we ingest God’s truth into our Heart, determine to put our beliefs into action, and lean upon the power and leadership of the Spirit.
What drives us to persevere in the determined exercise of faith? Hebrews 11:6. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Why do you go to your job five days a week? You work 40 hours a week because you believe that there will be a paycheck on Friday. We all understand that doing good work to get a paycheck. God is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek him. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
