The Quiet Onez

¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.^[a] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:10-14

The other day I was reflecting on a verse from the Bible and it had the words “live by the spirit.” My step-dad would always say that we could not get through this world without “living by the spirit.” Me, being a young kid, had absolutely no clue what he meant by that.

It wasn’t until I decided to follow God where I finally understood what it meant to live by the spirit. But, that wasn’t always the case in the beginning.

Living by the spirit is like having magical glasses one could look through and see the meaning and purpose behind everything.

You see the brokenness of the world. You see hopelessness and shame. You see the sins of parents who passed on their own brokenness that scared their children.

Ultimately, you see the answer come from God and His grace reign upon the world. You begin to realize more and more the love that God has for His creation.

When we live by the spirit, the opposite’s “flesh” becomes much less apparent. The “flesh” or “fleshly desires” are what people naturally desire, often times in over abundance. Sex, money, power, fame, fortune, only some of the fleshly desires we seek because it temporarily satisfies our “body.”

But for me, after being with my church, praying, and reading God’s word, I gradually find peace in the “spirit” that fulfills me more than anything else ever would.

Living by the spirit is also finding joy in parenting, or serving others.

Ever since becoming a Christian, I felt the world begin to make more sense. Science and philosophy could only take me so far, but God brings the answers to this world of love and relationship.

But, when I “live by the spirit” I find a peace that nothing else could satisfy.