Nourishing the Spirit Within Us

As men, we are made up of body, soul, and spirit.  We do not last very long at all if we fail to nourish the body; in Mazlow's "Hierarchy of Needs," that comes first -- taking care of physical needs. 

The "soul," or as the Greeks called it, the "psyche," is comprised of mind and emotions.
Most of us in the 21st century have at least a basic education, which helps to nourish the mind if not the emotions.  As we feed our minds, our emotions often come under some kind of control also, but not always.  Some people are highly developed intellectually, but they never really learn emotional control, because our emotions are not rational.  We, like St. Paul in the seventh chapter of Romans, can say, "In my inner being, I delight in the Law of God, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of the sin at work within my members....I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?...in my mind, I am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."

If we agree with Paul that the mind is not strong enough to keep us from "the law of sin at work in our members," then what is the solution?  Educating the mind is not enough to keep us from sin and spiritual death.  We nourish the body, but a healthy body is not enough.  We nourish the mind, but a highly developed intellect is not enough.  How many of us realize that we must also nourish the spirit that is within us?

Proverbs 4:23 says this:  Guard well your heart, for out of it flow all the issues of life.

When the Bible uses the word "heart," it is not speaking of the emotions, as we so often do.  It is referring to the spirit that God has put within mankind -- His own Spirit.  When God created Adam, He "blew into his nostrils the breath ("ruah") of life, and man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7).  Now the "breath"/ (ruah in Hebrew) is not the mind or emotions; it is the very breath, or life, of God Himself, His own Spirit.  It is our life-principle; when the breath departs from us, we die.  It is not the body; it is not the psyche--the mind and emotions; it is our spirit, God's breath in us.

Yet man lives his entire life without acknowledging his own spirit -- what the Bible calls man's "heart."  We fail to nourish the life God has given us, the part of us that is most like Him and that enables us to commune with God Himself.  And so, even though we live, we are also dying spiritually.  And dying spiritually, we fail to really live, for "out of [our hearts] flow all the issues of life."  "The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6)....."for you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him, we cry "Abba, Father" (8:15).

Daily we are dying spiritually, or daily we are growing stronger spiritually as we nourish and feed the spirit God has given us.  If we do not know how to nourish the spirit within us, let us ask the Father of our spirits, the One who has birth to our souls and hearts.  He will not fail to answer us, for what parent does not want his child to grow strong and healthy?