Following up on yesterday’s discussion (thanks for the great comments!), I want to think about how we can view the world with more spiritual eyes. As someone who takes a high view of Scripture, I have to believe that the world it portrays is a reality. Because of this, I believe there is more to Creation than what meets the eye. There are spiritual realities that need to be recognized.
I think we need to see that our physical actions can have spiritual consequences. There are “deeds of darkness” and “works of light.” When we choose to do evil, we are partnering with evil. We are doing its bidding, allowing it to be our master. We are weakening ourselves spiritually.
We choose between carnal and spiritual, flesh and spirit. Each choice we make shapes us and affects us. Giving in to sin makes it easier to give in the next time. Resisting temptation makes it easier to follow the Spirit in the future.
Even sins that “don’t hurt anybody” hurt me. They weaken me, because we’re not just talking about superficial actions; we’re talking about placing ourself in the camp of evil or the kingdom of good. Paul put it this way: “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)
I think that we need to help people see that we are in a spiritual struggle, an all-out war between the forces of heaven and the forces of evil. Far too much of our thinking about sin has to do with “will I still get to heaven or not?” That kind of thinking misses the point, fails to see the realities of the world in which we live.
Or am I missing the point? As always, feel free to correct me or steer me in the right direction.
Tim, I have never read anything you have written, that I agree with more.
“I think we need to see that our physical actions can have spiritual consequences. There are “deeds of darkness” and “works of light.” When we choose to do evil, we are partnering with evil. We are doing its bidding, allowing it to be our master. We are weakening ourselves spiritually.
We choose between carnal and spiritual, flesh and spirit. Each choice we make shapes us and affects us. Giving in to sin makes it easier to give in the next time. Resisting temptation makes it easier to follow the Spirit in the future.”
I might just add. every human being has a “spirit within” and we as physical beings determine whether that spirit is “holy” or “evil/unholy” not only does our actions show which we choose, our actions determine which road we take.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
I can’t see where the bible says anything other than what you stated. And we need to start teaching what the bible says, instead of what we wish it to say. May God Bless.
Tim,
i wouldn’t say you’re missing the point at all. i’d say you have to be right in order for certain bits of scripture to make any sense.
What do you think about Paul saying that some Corinthians were dying as a result of abuse of the Lord’s Supper (1Cor 11:30)? And what about the evil spirit incident in 1Sam 16–what’s always been utterly puzzling to me is that bystanders seemed to be able to tell that this is what was happening, they don’t seem that surprised by it, and they even already have a prognosis for such a problem–doesn’t this passage also suggest something of the reality check you’re talking about?
Maybe i’m not lining up your point with the right kind of events though.
–guy
Tim, I agree wholeheartedly. We tend to want to separate our “Christian” lives from our “Everyday” lives, but that’s not how it works. Our physical and spiritual selves are intertwined and inseperable, just as God created us according to the account in Genesis. Every “physical” action we take has a spiritual side or effect to it. Hopefully for most of us, it’s good! We need to be reflecting light at all times — at home, with our spouses and children and parents, at work, at the ballpark, while driving (road rage, honking the horn, giving a one-fingered salute….all would fall under “deeds of darkness”). It’s so easy to overlook the small things, but it the accumulation of those small things that define us as either being in darkness or in light.
Great thoughts. I think it is a great difficulty. In my experience people seem to think if they deny it is that way then it won’t be that way. Great thoughts as always.
Thanks, Laymond. I can no longer say that you disagree with everything I write. :-)
Guy,
The 1 Corinthians passage is difficult. Is this spiritual death? Physical death? I lean toward the former, but that may be the influence of Western thinking.
And yes, I think we may be too quick to dismiss spiritual causes of affliction, like what we see in 1 Samuel 16.
Travis,
I like your last statement: “the accumulation of those small things that define us as either being in darkness or in light.” That’s where my thoughts were going, so I’m glad you caught my drift.
Thanks Darin
“the accumulation of those small things that define us as either being in darkness or in light”… didn’t CS Lewis make that point in Mere Christianity, that it is the little decisions we make each day that mould and shape us?
Lewis probably did write that. He stole a lot of my best ideas. :-)