The Spiritual Man

(Martin Jones) #1

412 The Spiritual Man


Confused thought and endless speech set our spirits to wandering
away from the control of our wills. A “wild spirit” often leads people
to walk according to the flesh. How hard for believers to restrain
themselves from sinning when their spirits become unruly. An errant
spirit invariably ends up with an error in conduct.


Before one can display a quiet mouth he first must possess a quiet
spirit, for out of the abundance of the spirit does the mouth speak.
We ought to carefully keep our spirit in stillness; even in time of
intense confusion our inner being should nevertheless be able to
sustain an independent quietude. A placid spirit is essential to anyone
walking after the spirit: without it he shall quickly fall into sin. If our
spirit is hushed we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit there, obey
the will of God, and understand what we cannot understand when
confused. Such a quiet inner life constitutes the Christian’s
adornment which betokens something manifested outwardly.


A Newness of Spirit
“We should serve in newness of spirit” (Rom. 7.6 Darby).

This too is a serious facet of spiritual life and work. An old spirit
cannot inspire people: the best it can do is pass on some thought to
others: even so, it is weak and therefore powerless to stimulate
earnest consideration. An aged spirit can only produce aged thought.
Never can dynamic life flow out from an old spirit. Whatever issues
from a decrepit spirit (words, teaching, manner, thought, life) are but
old, stale and traditional. Perhaps many doctrines do in fact reach
another believer’s mind, but they gain no footing in his spirit; as a
consequence, it is impossible to touch the spirits of others because
there is no spirit behind one’s teaching. It is conceivable that the one
who harbors an old spirit has once experienced some of the truths,
but they have now become mere remembrances of the past, purely
pleasant memories. These truths have been transferred from the spirit
to the mind. Or perhaps they have just been new ideas freshly

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