There are basically four reasons why some people are alienated from the life of
God and fail to produce spiritual fruits.
1. Alienated from the life of God
because of Ignorance
Ignorance
to the reality that humanity is both the offspring of the first and last Adam is
a major reason why many are failing to produce spiritual fruits. As the
offspring of the first Adam, man has no advantage over the beast as alluded to
by the wise King Solomon who wrote; “For what happens to the sons of men also
happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other.
Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is
vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. Who
knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the
animal, which goes down to the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:19-21).
But
with the advent of the last Adam the second man from heaven mankind has the
preeminence over the animal for we have been duly admonished saying; “The body
is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it
is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. And so it is
written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam
became a life-giving spirit.’
“However,
the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The
first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from
heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as
is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne
the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man”
(1
Corinthians 15:42-49).
As
the offspring of the first Adam, we were all by nature children of wrath,
children of the devil as confirmed by the apostle Paul who wrote; “And you He
made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also
we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
just as the others” (Ephesians 2:1-3).
Jesus
Christ also made mention of the fact that we by nature were the children of the
devil when He said to the Pharisees; “If God were your Father, you would love
Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He
sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to
listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your
father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand
in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks
from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John
8:42-44).
And
so, because of this huge disparity that exist between living the life which is
in accordance to the flesh and the life which is in accordance to the Spirit, we
have been duly instructed saying; “This I say, therefore, and testify in the
Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the
futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated
from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over
to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Ephesians
4:17-19).
How
often do we hear people saying, “I have only one life to live,” in the context
of "Let us travel, eat and drink, for tomorrow we die?" But the irony
of truth is, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the
most pitiable. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that
each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has
done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we
persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in
your consciences.
The
reality is, there is a daily struggle between the flesh and the Spirit, between
the nature of the first and that of the last Adam, and so the admonition is; "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and
you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one
another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Galatians
5:16-17).
Let
us therefore not be ignorant of who we are and use the freedom of choice we all
have wisely and. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man
sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh
reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap
everlasting life” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Let
us all therefore be mindful of the life in the Spirit which is contrary and in
conflict with that of the flesh and originated from two different sources. In
addition to this; "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate
the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the
other. We cannot serve God and mammon.
To be continued
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With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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