By Jim Mettenbrink
Last week we began to consider what the spirit of a person does. Recall that we consist of body (flesh) soul (life force; Leviticus 17:11) and the spirit. We considered that the heart and spirit are either synonymous or inseparably connected. That your spirit is paramount above all else in your life is implicitly declared by the prophet in his brief summary about God’s activity in the creation – “Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him (Zechariah 12:1).
The spirit is the eternal part of a person. Recall when Jesus and Stephen died, each entrusted his spirit to God’s care (Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59). They did not ask anything for the body nor for the life force of that flesh. In fact “No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death (Ecclesiastes 8:8). Regarding one’s death, Solomon continued, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Eccl 12:6-7).
You can not determine that you have a spirit, let alone that it is eternal. After all, when a person dies, you see the lifeless body. Only the Bible informs you of who you are – an eternal spirit in a flesh body made for this realm. God is not frivolous so the spirit must have a function(s). God informs us what occurs in the human spirit.
When God gave the command to build the tabernacle and that the people must donate the materials, Moses recorded, “Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting” (Exodus 35:21). Thus one’s will to do anything begins in one’s spirit.
Whether one submits to God rather than stubborn self is a decision that begins in one’s spirit. God’s prophet Isaiah declared, “With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early” (Is 26:9). On the other hand “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18-19 ). Decisions!
Where do your goals and priorities originate? “O Lord, by these things men live; and in all these things is the life of my spirit….” (Is 38:16). Your spirit has more traits. Next.