Which Program?

From the scriptures, we know that living people have a body, a soul, and a spirit.  Since it is the visible, physical part, we know quite a bit about the body, with few, except for a sect of so-called “Christian Scientists” questioning what it involves.  The soul and spirit, on the other hand, are far more difficult to define, as Hebrews 4:12 makes clear.  “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” 

Genesis 2:7 tells us, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”   From this we can deduce that the soul seems to be the actual part that makes us alive, the life principle, as some have called it.  From Ephesians 4:22-24, we learn that the Spirit has a close relationship with our mind.  “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;   And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”  The life and the mind are so closely inter related that when the brain stops functioning, the person is considered clinically dead, yet even some whose mind has stopped working recover, making it clear that brain function itself is not what determines life.  Clearly the soul and the spirit are closely related but not the same thing. 

Perhaps an analogy to a computer will help clarify the three parts.  The body is the physical computer, with various printed circuits to carry the current and components to interface with printers, keyboards etc.  The spirit would be represented by the electricity that empowers the computer to function, while the software, the programing that determines how the computer relates would represent the spirit.  It is not a perfect analogy, but perhaps it will help understand the relationship of the three parts.  If any one of the parts is missing, the computer can do nothing.    

God made every living creature able to respond to their environment, but the degrees of response varies with different creatures.  More than any other creature, humans have an ability to choose how they will respond to the environment, much like the operating system of a computer.  In using the computer, we repeatedly do certain things, so we develop programs specifically for those purposes that we save and re use.  In essence, those programs become our computer personality.  In much the same way we develop ways of dealing with life’s situations that become our personality, or spirit.  Our personality is the product of our various attitudes, beliefs, and habits.  In modern English we tend to equate the spirit with the attitude, saying he has a good spirit when a person has a good attitude. 

Many times, when the Bible talks about a spirit, it is talking about a being which has a personality but no physical body such as we have.  Some are angels and some are demons, or rebellious angels.  They have the ability to communicate with us, much like other people do, and we have the ability to choose to listen or ignore them.  Lacking a body to accomplish physical things, demons try to manipulate human’s thoughts to get them to help in their rebellion against God. 

When Adam sinned, he gave Satan and his demons access to our minds, where they attempt to establish control, using drugs or alcohol, anger, fear, greed, etc.   When a person accepts Christ, he breaks that control by Satan, giving the Holy Spirit access.     With his power, we can regain control of our lives, because he changes our attitudes and habits, reprogramming our thinking. 

When we get saved, we are like a guy who has just installed a whole new set of programs on his computer.  He can continue to use the old, familiar programs because he is used to them, or he can begin to use the new programs, even though they are more difficult at first because he expects better results.  It is that learning to use the new programing Paul was talking about when he said, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law,” in Galatians 5:16-18.   

We can be like David, allowing the Holy Spirit to control our thoughts and attitudes so that they are acceptable to God, or we can allow our old nature, as influenced by satanic forces to direct our thoughts as we did before.  The choice is ours.  Which program are you using?  The one you developed from your experiences, the one satanic forces suggested, or God’s?