Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Refuse to Settle



“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,” – 2 Peter 3:11

            The soul maintains a certain duality that the human flesh cannot.  It moves between the two worlds (physical and spiritual) whereas all else is contained is contained in the physical.  We enter this world with a soul and that soul inhabits mortal flesh.  These bodies are rented for but a time and our possessions borrowed for a while, however our soul is truly ours.  This soul will pass beyond the physical vail and exist in another place (heaven or hell); while on this earth we decide the final resting place of our soul.  The trouble with humanity (to borrow from the sentiments of C.S. Lewis) is that we settle.  God has given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness, we have been given the opportunity to commune with the creator of the universe, and to live with him eternally, but some choose to throw it away.  They settle, for the natural, the temporal, for fleeting pleasures and short lived riches.  Why settle for less, when God has prepared so much more?
When God formed the earth from his voice, he then created all manner of creatures to live in it.  The birds and beast were formed and they populated the earth.  He then made man in His image and gave man dominion over the animals.  We were given something that the animals were not, a soul, and a choice.  Every animal that walks this earth is bound by natural law, and will behave according to their nature within.  Unless God intervenes, when you throw a piece of meat to a hungry lion, he will eat it.  When you chase a bird of a ledge, he will fly.  There is a natural instinct that lives within and a spiritual condition that does not exist.  A tiger can maul a 5 year old boy and feel no remorse, but can a human being?  There is a supernatural, spiritual law that exist within us as much as the natural.  Our physical man hungers, and so does the spiritual one.  Our physical man dies, and so must the spiritual one; a duality exist that cannot be ignored and we stand on a more elevated plain than any other creature because of the gift of the soul, and therefore the gift of choice.  This choice to serve God or no, brings with it like all choices: responsibility and consequences.  It is the devil’s wish that we stumble through life serving our own natural lust and desires, never to consider the condition of our soul.  He would have us behave, think, and act like animals.  This not to say that we go out into the woods and tear raw flesh from the bone of any fallen beast; no, but to say that we only think about the physical realm.  Do we only think about the physical realm?  How much time, money, and energy is spent on our lodging, transportation, food, etc.?  Do we spend the bulk of our lives in efforts to satisfy the lust of our nature?  Jesus teaches us that there is so much more to life than what we can see and to strive only for the natural is settling for less, God has purposed for his prized creation so much more.

One day, someday, all these things shall be dissolved.  We, each one of us, will leave this earth and nothing that you can see or feel with leave with you.  This truth is a warning to all of us, yes, but within that truth rests a promise.  A promise that there is more, we are spiritual beings having a natural experience, not the other way around.  We have been created in His likeness and he desires fellowship with his creation.  Do not settle for small rations of this world when God has prepared a table full of spiritual blessings!  Refuse to digress into the temptation to the natural and press towards the promise of the spiritual.  You have been given a choice, you can love God and be loved by God.  You can know God here on earth and forever in heaven. 

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