Spirit

“Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” Lk. 23:46

n Hebrew it is “ruach.” In Greek it is “pneuma.” To us, it is “spirit.” In the Bible it is often translated “wind,” or “breath.” To God, spirit is everything. Jesus said “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.”

On the cross, the Lord Jesus culminated His wonderful life and earthly ministry with the words “Into Thy hands, I commit my spirit.” His was a beautiful spirit.

Spirits can be weighed, broken, defiled, captured or set free. Spirits can sing, and spirits can soar. To God, I repeat, spirits are everything. There are unclean spirits, and diseased spirits, and dark spirits. God is Spirit and seeks for those who would worship (know and appreciate Him) in spirit and in truth.

Proverbs Sixteen speaks of spirits. It speaks of a spiritual scale (v.2). Sin makes the spirit heavy. While only God knows how heavy, we all have felt the weight of a heavy conscience. Once released, and without a body to hold it up, the sinner’s soul and spirit will plunge into the depths of hell. Like the lead shot of a minuteman’s musket, each round is heavy. Faith is a call to spiritual disarmament. When James and John wanted to “call down fire from heaven,” Jesus told them they did not know what spirit they were of. Like buckshot, all sin is heavy. God weighs the spirit. We should also. We should weigh in every morning and evening and make sure our hearts hold no bitterness, envy, anger, pride or a hundred other leaden pellets that have wounded us, or which we hold as an arsenal with which to hurt others.

Not everyone feels the weight of sin. Many are oblivious to it. These spirits are not as heavy as they are “haughty” (Prov. 16:18). God hates haughty spirits as well. Nothing will plunge a soul deeper or faster into hell than pride. Nothing lightens the spirit more than humility. Satan will gladly hand us heavily weighted trophies that invite us to polish our pride, knowing that we are likely to place them on our mantles and become chained to our own self. Humility takes no honors and gives God all the glory.

Thirdly, the proverb (16:32) speaks of the importance of “ruling” our spirit. Never was there a more important government than this. Never was there a more difficult task. God alone must be our government. Christ must be our King. Without the Spirit of Christ, our spirits are no match for its many enemies and the insurgents that want to topple our righteous regime and leave our hearts in ruins and in chaos. The crucified life has discovered the triumph of the cross and the words “into Thy hands I commit my spirit.”

When we have at last discovered what it means to be crucified with Christ, we too will give to God our broken spirit and then live again to watch it rise, dance on broken bones and worship.