By Brittney Davis
Eccl. 12:13 says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments for this is man’s all.” We are on this Earth to serve God; that is probably not news to you but let’s also look at Rom. 1:9 which says, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.” So we’re on this earth to serve God and Paul says that he serves God with his spirit as opposed to serving in the flesh.
Consider the fact that you are made in the image of God, Gen. 1:26. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” You are a soul in a body. Your soul is who you are; your soul is your very being. Adam, when he was created in the garden of Eden, was not a living being until God breathed into him the breath of life or breathed into him his soul. Once we accept and live this, it’s a very freeing sensation. No longer have we any need to be concerned with the things of this world; it truly epitomizes what is meant when we sing this world is not our home. But knowing this is only half the battle.
1Pet. 2:11 says, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” Stop fighting your true self. Peter says we’re sojourners and pilgrims we won’t be here forever and giving into fleshly lusts is only hurting us. Sisters this is most encouraging since your soul is who you are, your body cannot do anything without you giving into it. Have you ever heard of anything tempting your soul? They are called fleshly lusts for a reason; what on this earth could possibly tempt your soul, nothing. Our culture tempts us not so much directly but with ideas. Ideas that we are less than or not good enough, ideas that who we are is made up of things outside of us; it’s not so sisters but unfortunately, some of us are believing it.
There is a car commercial that takes a professional male or female athlete, shows them first in their uniform then in evening clothes, a dress or business suit. The tagline to the commercial says aggression in its most elegant form. This is the very definition of temptation; it’s sin in its most elegant form. It’s fornication, lasciviousness and lust wrapped up in a love story, it’s theft and deception wrapped up in an action underdog story and it’s murder wrapped up in a women’s right movement. If sin showed you its true self your soul, your true self, would immediately be repulsed and reject it, but sin doesn’t immediately show you what it really looks like. 2. Cor. 11:14-15 says, “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”
You have to take back control of your life. You have to decide today to serve God with your spirit like Paul stated in Rom. 1:9. And the only way to do that is to feed and treat your true self the way you feed and treat the body that houses it. 2. Cor. 4:16-18 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” We must expand our minds sisters to see the things which are not seen, to live in that arena. To know that our true selves are only here for a short while and we cannot spend the time that we have on insecurity, jealousy and living for this life.
Rom. 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
These two verses are who you are and why you were put on this earth. May we all free our minds from the binds of worldly thinking and living and put our focus on preparing our true selves for our eternal home. God bless you.
 
Brittany Davis is the founder of Virtuous Magazine, a free bi-monthly digital and print magazine for Christian women. Please visit www.virtuousmagazine.com for more info and to sign up for the free Thursday’s Thought newsletter.