Elevate and Subdue

Moses chose spiritual over physical

How is man different from all the other living creatures God placed on the earth at creation? You know the answer. God created man in His image. That is not true of any other living creature on this earth. After the creation of all other animals that inhabit the earth was completed we read, "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness' . He . . So God created man in His image, in the image of God created He him;" Gen. 1:26-27.

But what does that mean? Is it telling us why man walks upright on two feet in a way that no other land based animal does (unless their wings don't work?) Is it telling us why man is not covered with hair (or worse, fur) like other mammals? Or is it a more detailed answer to our original question, telling us that man has an eternal soul? I'm going with this third suggestion.

"God is a spirit," John 4:24. He is a spiritual being. Man being in God's likeness, God's image, means that man is also a spiritual being, something that is not true of any other being on this earth. (My apologies to those dog and cat lovers for whom this is difficult to accept, but to reference John again, "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." John 8:32.)

This truth (man's spiritual nature, not the dog and cat thing) is of the utmost importance in determining the course of our lives. Man has two natures. Man is a physical being. Man is also a spiritual being. Sadly, many of us have let the fact that we live in a physical world overshadow our spiritual nature to the extent that it is all but forgotten.

It is quite natural for humans to have grave concerns about death. Here is something much more serious to be concerned about. You are never going to die. Which one are you really, your spiritual person, or your physical person? If someone asks, "Do you know Johnny?" A common response might be something like this, "You mean that tall man with the curly red hair, freckles and broken nose?" Notice that all references are to physical characteristics and none are spiritual. How sad that the response is rarely, if ever, something like this, "You mean that kind man who loves Jesus, and tears up sometimes during worship?"

Here's the issue that matters. We are not our physical bodies. How do I know? God gave us physical bodies to live in as we navigate our way through this physical world. In time that body will die. But the one who resides in that body will continue living throughout eternity.

When a family moves into a house, that house will begin to show signs of life. Flowers are planted, paint is applied, new doors or windows will be installed, etc. Lights go on. Dynamic things begin happening. When the family moves away and the house is devoid of people those things stop happening. But we don't say the family died. It is just that they don't live in that house anymore.

The same is true of our body and our existence. We are our spiritual nature. We are not our physical nature. The physical is just temporary, and doesn't define the "real us" in any way at all. It is so sad that the spiritual being residing in the body of a well-built athlete setting records in their chosen sport is honored with much acclaim, as is the spiritual being in the body with vocal chords that hit every note perfectly with a soothing sound. Both of those situations, and the many they represent, tell us nothing about the spiritual being that resides in those bodies.

But the day will come when those spirits residing in those bodies will leave those physical bodies behind. Their true spirit will show itself. The other side of the coin is that those spirits who have lived in sickly, or weak, or for some other reason unimpressive bodies will be free of that physical situation as well and their true spirit will show itself. Here is a most important fact. Everything that happens during the time we spend in the physical world has no significance of any kind other than where it places us when we leave it behind and move into that existence which is totally and only spiritual, because the "real us", our spiritual nature, will never die.

Here is what this all means. During our physical lifetimes our number one job is to elevate the spiritual and subdue the physical. Do not put all, or even much, of your energy, effort, time, etc. into something that is not even the real you while you are living in it, and in time will not even exist with you in eternity. Because you will never die. So elevate the spiritual and subdue the physical. This is how you prepare yourself for an eternity in Heaven with God.

In short, spriritual things are things that pertain to God, Heaven, and eternity. Physical things are those that pertain only to the here and now, things that are done for the effect they will have in this world, a place in which you exist for only a short time.

The New Testament is filled with verses that help us make a distinction and choose correctly between physical and spiritual attributes. The last part of Ephesians 4, maybe starting with verse 17 tells us that hard hearts, sensuality, impurity, deceitful desires, among other things are physical and to be subdued. Truth, righteousness and holiness are spiritual and to be elevated. Beginning in verse 25 several individual contrasts are made. Subdue falsehood, elevate truth. Subdue stealing from others, elevate working to provide for others. Don't speak in an evil corrupt way. Speak in a way that builds up and provides grace. Subdue bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander. Elevate kindness, tender heartedness, and forgiving.

Galatians 5:16 begins a section that is preaching the sermon I am hinting at here. Please read it (as well as Ephesians 4.) In Galatians 5 Paul list those things that are of the physical nature: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and similar things. Notice that these things involve self-centered lack of concern for others. Simply not getting along with others is really what several of these are all about. I would suggest that you spend most of your time considering how to remove those you're guilty of from your life and not smugly thinking about the ones you avoid. Strife, dissensions, divisions and envy are part of this list. What about "similar things?"

Paul also lists some spiritual things: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Why would anyone not prefer to be like this second list rather than the first one? Paul warns that if our lives contain elements of the first list "[we] will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Vs 21) He also tells us that "those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Vs 24) He admonishes us, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit." (Vs 25)

Remember, the Christian's job is to elevate the spirit and subdue the physical. We will never die. Our physical body will die a physical death, but the spiritual us will never die. When our physical body ceases its existence and deposits our spiritual self on the shore of eternity, the only thing that will matter of all our entire physical existence will be whether we kept the physical side of life in check, subdued it, and at the same time, elevated the spiritual.