- John 4:24King James Version (KJV) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.God is spirit. God is not flesh. As a matter of fact, the word of God. The teachings of Christ, the writings of Paul, and on and on state the dichotomous relationship between the flesh and the spirit. Paul tells us over and over about the conflict between flesh and spirit. In Romans he gives the sometimes almost comical discription of his battle with the flesh.Paul describes in the Book of Romans a much deeper frustration—one with which onlyChristians can identify and one with which all Christians can identify. The Christian’s agony comes from realizing that our sinful flesh refuses to respond to the requirements of God’s Law. Those things which we as Christians despise we find ourselves doing. Those things which we as Christians desire we fail to accomplish. No matter how much we may wish to serve God in our minds, we find ourselves sinning in our bodies. As Paul describes his frustration in Romans 7, with his mind he desires to serve God. He agrees with the Law of God and rejoices in it. He wants to do what is right, but his body will not respond. He watches, almost as a third party, as sin sends a signal to his body, and as his body responds, “What would you like to do?” Paul finds, as we do, that while our fleshly bodies refuse to obey God and do that which we desire and which delights God, they quickly and eagerly respond to the impulses and desires aroused by sin.So we find that the flesh is temporal and it is of this earth. It desires what is of the earth. Because it originates here. It also terminates here. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Furthermore, the flesh is something we must be constantly vigilant over or it will run roughshod over our lives in a never ending demonstration of impulsivity and selfish behavior.Once again, Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians about the stark contrast between the spirit and the flesh.In Galatians 5: 13-23 he explains the conflict and the differences.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
But we as Christians are enlightened in the regard that when we accept Jesus Christ as our one and only we also get the whole package. We get the father, whom Christ continuosly spoke of in his teachings and we get the Holy Spirit or as Jesus sometimes referred to it as The Comforter. Evidence of the comforter occupying the very psyche' of the committed Christian was demonstrated on the day of Pentecost when many were overcome with the spirit that lives within each and every one of us. The Spirit. The image of God. We are all individualized expressions of God right here on earth. But because we currently do not exist on the spiritual plane as so many of us who once walked this earth now do, we have this container. This body. This flesh that carries our spirit to and fro as we live our human experience here on earth. This flesh. The flesh that depending on your geographic origins contains certain degrees of what scientists refer to as melanin.Melanin
i/ˈmɛlənɪn/ (Greek: μέλας - melas, "black, dark") is a broad term for a group of natural pigments found in most organisms (arachnids are one of the few groups in which it has not been detected). Melanin is produced by the oxidation of the amino acid tyrosine, followed by polymerization. The pigment is produced in a specialized group of cells known as melanocytes.In the skin, melanogenesis occurs after exposure to UV radiation, causing the skin to visibly tan. Melanin is an effective absorber of light; the pigment is able to dissipate over 99.9% of absorbed UV radiation.[1] Because of this property, melanin is thought to protect skin cells from UVB radiation damage, reducing the risk of cancer. Furthermore, though exposure to UV radiation is associated with increased risk of malignant melanoma, a cancer of the melanocytes, studies have shown a lower incidence for skin cancer in individuals with more concentrated melanin, i.e. darker skin tone. Nonetheless, the relationship between skin pigmentation and photoprotection is still being clarified.[2]So with that being said we still remain this image of God which is Spirit, encapsulated by this flesh, which can be of varying levels of melanin which is a result of the origin of your flesh on this planet. So, in areas such as Norway or Finland we have little need for large quantities of melanin because of the climate, but in hot climates that are located closer to the equator, we find the container of our Spirit, or connection to God, having more melanin as a means of adaptation and survival. That's it. There is no classification in the scripture that states people with this amount of melanin in their flesh have some advantage over others over varying degrees of melanin. It is simply a shade of the cover that is temporary that houses our spirit which is eternal. Yet here we are in this world, being directed by the flesh in ways so subtle we at times can hardly take notice. We separate and divide. We assign one another to these collectives. These groups. This "US" and "Them" mentality which is the most anti-spirit act we can direct ourselves to. It literally ignores and diminishes the very image of God that lives within each and every one of us. Instead of brothers and sisters in Christ and a family of the Spirit we see the blacks, the whites, the hispanics, the asians, the this, the that. What ever separates and what ever divides. It is our way of classifying the world around us. We see things as not like us or just like them and it bleeds like a cancer into the very fabric of our lives. We fail the test. We even forget the test. We instead rally in large groups to take up for our kind and simultaneously denegrade the others. Those who oppose us. We fail the test.That test that tells us where we are in Christ and whether we are Spirit focused or flesh focused.2 Corinthians 13:5New International Version (NIV)
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
There are leaders out there who claim to be ministers. Men of God. Men of the word. Men of the spirit. Yet they advocate the flesh. The melanin in the body that encapsulates our Spirit as we have a human experiience here on earth. They fail the test. They serve to separate us from the spirit in their own ignorance as others who are weak in their walk follow them and stumble in ways that may permanently affect their relationship with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. It is a sin of the worst kind. A missing of the mark. The word sin being an anglo saxon word referring to archery which means to miss the mark. To not hit the target or the bullseye. Well, this sin, this reliance upon identifying ourselves based on the color of our skin rather than the image of God that lives in each one of us is a form of separation that I personally fight against. I know the flesh is my enemy when it comes to my relationship with God. I know I am also human and subject to stumble but the spirit convicts and corrects. As Christ told us he came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. The spirit within if we have that faith of a mustard seed will direct our paths if only we let it. Against the Spirit there is no law. We need to see this world as spirit. We need to see the people who walk this earth with us as Spirit no matter there melanin quantity. Right now the flesh is having it's way with this nation and we are divided. We need to pass the test. Let us refocus our perspective on who we really are and start representing the spirit within each of us. No more divisions. No more collectives. All of us a Spirit that will never die but instead will be a part of the kingdom when we leave this flesh behind.
Remember, the flesh will separate us from God at the first opportunity. Yet we have the spirit right here. Right inside of who we really are. He must become greater, and I must become less. He being the spirit and I being the flesh. The scripture is not just a bunch of letters or stories or proverbs. It is the word. It was what became flesh when Jesus walked the earth. We must study it in order to live it and reflect it in our lives. I pray we all give the time to see ourselves as Spirit before the flesh indentifies us itself.
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