2st Spirit, Soul, Body (9)
2004-05-16 | Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee | 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Today, continuing from the last time, we are going to take a detailed look at how to make the action of the soul the truth.
1. To become true children who resemble God
The soul is a generic term for “memory devices in the human brain”, “memory contents stored therein”, and “thoughts that reproduce and utilize these contents”. So, what people see, hear, learn, feel, remember, and recall memories are all possible actions because they have a soul.
God’s children must do this operation of their souls in the truth to be transformed into people of spirit. It is the fact that we can become true children who resemble God only when we act with the soul of truth that is proper before God, rather than acting on the soul that belongs to untruth, such as hating, envying, and harboring emotions while misunderstanding or judging and condemning others with preconceived notions.
2. In order for the soul that belongs to the truth to work
Last time, we looked at two of the ways in which the soul belonging to the truth can work.
First, we must discern everything according to the Word of God, that is, the standard of truth.
Each person has different teachings from childhood and has created different culture and values in the environment and culture in which he was raised. The only standard that can distinguish right from wrong transcends time and place is the truth, the word of God recorded in the 66 books of the Bible.
Second, we must feel worthy of the truth.
In order to have the feeling of the truth no matter how we deal with it, we have to accept it as a feeling worthy of the truth from the moment we first input it, because how we feel at the beginning greatly determines how we feel afterwards.
In the past, I have seen some parents scolding their children, saying, “I am scolded by the pastor” and entering the shepherd they serve as a scary person. So even when the child grows up and sees the pastor, he is afraid and tries to avoid it. The way you react depends on how you instilled feelings in the child in the first place.
This is the same even when you become an adult, but if you see a person who is actively engaged in something and act as an untruth with your soul, you will feel like, “That person is too busy, he’s arrogant.” After this feeling of untruth is entered once, it is easy to continue to have bad feelings when you see the person after that.
On the other hand, if the soul works with the truth, even when you see the same person, you can feel, “That person is very zealous for God’s work, it’s lovely.” Once a certain feeling is planted, it is often not easy to get rid of it. So, it is very important to feel the truth from the beginning by accepting everything in goodness.
So, what should we do with the feeling that it has already been entered incorrectly as untruth?
In this case, you just need to change the feeling of untruth to the feeling of truth. For example, a person who has grown up listening to scary stories about ghosts and evil spirits from an early age may be surprised to see a horror movie and be alone in the dark, which is not a big deal. In this case, I deny myself by saying “I’m not afraid” and I try not to think about scary things, but the more I do it, the stronger it comes to mind. However, if we know the world of evil spirits and live in the light, then because Almighty God protects us, the evil spirits cannot touch us. Rather, we tremble in fear because of the spiritual light. Therefore, when you know the identities of the evil spirits clearly, the feeling of fear changes into the feeling of no longer being afraid.
Long ago, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, there were people who blushed and embarrassed when they encountered nude statues in European museums. When we think of the truth in everything like this and accept it as the feeling of truth, our soul works only with the truth.
Third, you must be able to accept the other person’s point of view in everything.
When you hear something or see a situation, if you accept it from your position, experience, and way of thinking, various untruthful soul operations will occur. This is because they may add or subtract the words of others according to their own thoughts, judge, condemn, or misunderstand their feelings.
For an easy example, let’s say someone said, “I went to Mt. Geumgang this time, and the scenery was so beautiful that I almost cried.” Hearing these words, people immediately come to mind of data about the mountains they have experienced. Even if you have never been to Mt. Geumgang in the past, or you have never been to Mt. Geumgang in person, photos and information about Mt. Geumgang that you have seen on TV come to mind.
When that happens, some people judge by saying, “I am exaggerating to the point of tears when I look at the mountains.” Such a person has never been so moved to tears by seeing a beautiful natural landscape before. Also, if someone has been burned and continues to complain of pain, it means that someone who has never experienced such pain or who has more patience thinks that it is “extremely hard.”
In this way, if you accept the other person’s words according to your position and experience, the action of the soul of untruth will come out. However, even if it wasn’t so when you saw it, you can try to understand and believe in the other person’s point of view, saying, “When I went to the mountain, it wasn’t so beautiful, but when that person saw it, it must have been beautiful.” Also, you don’t think that the other person is trying hard, but you understand the other person’s pain.
Let’s say that a husband who left work late did not respond well to his wife’s questions and treated him bluntly. Thinking from the wife’s point of view, it makes me sad to think, “How can you do this when you say you love me?” However, if you think from the other person’s point of view, you will be able to understand and embrace them, saying, “I think it’s because my husband is tired” or “What kind of difficult thing happened today?” Rather, it makes me think, “How can I help my husband give me strength?”
So is my husband. No matter how difficult it was, he would not make his wife sad considering the position of his wife who waited until late. If even one of the two people thinks from the other person’s point of view and works with the truth, the peace will not be broken.
The same is true when looking at the faults of others. Rather than judging and despising “why is that person like that?”, we need to understand “there must be a reason why he is like that” or “because he is not perfect yet.” If you can understand others, you will be able to forgive even when you see your faults and have compassion.
If you understand and embrace the other person’s position in this way, you can pursue peace with all people (Hebrews 12:14). Even if you are harmed by the other person, you can still love and have compassion on them, rather than hate and dislike them because they put the other person’s position first.
In the past, when I was sick for 7 years, there were people who persecuted me because I couldn’t make money and made my family suffer. I could never love them. It’s sad to be in pain, but I felt sorry for people who despised me like that and I felt sorry for them.
But when I learned about the love of Jesus, who died for me after being healed by the power of God, my feelings for them melted like snow. “It could have been enough for those people,” I thought. He came to understand that he could have hated someone who took his daughter or sister he loved and made him suffer. Then I saw that the feelings of hating and hating them disappeared and changed into a heart that could love and serve them.
If you know the love of Jesus who died on the cross and the grace of God, you will be able to love even your enemies. Such was the case with deacon Stephen. He pointed out the wickedness of the Jews who rebelled against God while preaching the Gospel. Even though they were stoned to death without any wrongdoing, they did not hate those who stoned themselves, but rather they were praying for intercession (Acts 7:60).
Of course, understanding the other person’s point of view does not mean that we must cover up our mistakes unconditionally, nor do we have to lie to someone who does evil and say, “It is good.” You can distinguish good from evil based on the Word of God, and sometimes, like Stephen, you can awaken and exhort the other person’s evil.
However, because of that evil, he does not hate and ignore others, and even if he rebukes him for his wrongdoing, he can pray for mercy even for those who kill him because he does it from true love that wants the other person to repent and have a good soul. .
Dear saints,
When we try to do the operation of the soul as the truth, sometimes things go as we set them to, but sometimes they don’t. Therefore, you have to pray and receive the power of God at the same time as you work hard. You have to constantly check your thoughts and feelings, your words and your deeds, and work tirelessly to change the action of your soul into the truth.
But once we enter the spirit, we can easily control our thoughts and feelings. Since the spirit becomes the master and controls the soul and body, you can control everything according to your will. If you don’t want to think about something, you can block it immediately, or even block things like smells, sounds, and pain as you like.
In this way, if you control all your thoughts and feelings and let your soul work only with the truth, you will always be filled with joy and thanksgiving (Romans 8:6). If we continue to pray and work hard to make the soul that belongs to the truth work, eventually we will be changed and we will be able to only think of the truth and thoughts of the Spirit that please God, and we will be able to control our thoughts and feelings as we set our minds.
Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become spiritual children of God who can discern only the truth, see, hear, and feel with the truth, throwing off all the operations of the soul that belong to untruth, and think the truth that pleases God.
