The Real You

 

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

—John 6:63 (NKJV)

 

 

Only the Holy Spirit gives life. The flesh earns nothing. The words that Jesus speaks to you are of His Spirit, and they bring His life to your spirit. Your body is the home in which your spirit lives, but it is not the real you. 

 

The spirit in you gives life to your body. If you take the spirit out of the body, all you have left is a body with no life. Hence, the spirit in you is the real you. Death is not ceasing to exist. It is separation from the physical body. When you were born into this world, you had a spirit, which was separated from God. When you were born-again, your spirit was reborn by God's Spirit.

 

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT). When your spirit has been born-again, the Spirit of God lives in you. His Spirit has become new life in you.

 

Believers have the same Spirit of God that we received. We can't relate to each other in the natural, because we miss who we really are. To know each other, we recognize the Spirit of God within. We know each other spirit-to-spirit and should never judge someone by their physical appearance, such as skin color or physical deformity. Jesus didn’t judge you by your appearance. Jesus saw you—the real you—and forgiving you, died for your sins so you could have a new life. When you believed in Him, His Spirit came to give you His life. 

 

“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature,” Paul wrote to the Romans. “You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you” (Romans 8:9-11, NLT).

 

Are you controlled by your senses—what you taste, see, or feel? But you were created to be a spirit, and that is how you know God—spirit-to-spirit. God didn't create you to live by your senses. Christ lives within you. It is how He reveals His truth and grace to you. And it how He knows you intimately. When your spirit has been reborn by His Spirit, death can’t separate you from God. Even though your mortal body will die one day, your soul, which was transformed by the Spirit of God living within you, never will. The life of His Spirit within you lives forever. Just as God raised Jesus from death, He also gives your body life by His Spirit living within you.

 

The real you lives in your relationship with Jesus—spirit-to-spirit. He lives within you—prays within you—reveals himself to you—rejoices with you. Open your mind to receive all that He has given you. You have nothing to fear. Life on earth has no power to separate you from the finished work of the Cross. Death to your body doesn’t separate you from the love of God. You live with Him forever.

 

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 38-39, NLT)!

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

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