Today’s Reading : Ephesian 2:1-22
As a child of the 80’s, I remember many sitcoms that were available to me as a youth. As I look at my children today they are obsessed with YouTube and other videos and do not have access to the great genre of television shows that I had access to as a child. But in these sitcoms, there were times where a person was having a dilemma and they needed to figure out what would be the best course of action. In these times, the actor would have a good side and a bad side, an angel and a devil, on their shoulders and they would consult each of these for their situation.
In real life, we actually do have two major sides that are residing in our body. We have the flesh, which is the natural side of our being. We also have the spiritual side. There is always a conflict between the flesh and the spirit sides in our body. But we have the person of Christ Jesus which has bridged the divide within us.
Ephesians 2: 13-16
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
We have the benefit and the luxury of having Christ coming into the world and making available to us the Holy Spirit. Before Christ came to the world the spirit of God was available, but not to everybody. Before Christ we were all flesh, and there was no spirit within us. Before Christ we did not truly understand good and bad for ourselves.
But when Christ came he brought the Holy Spirit to us through his body. In Ephesians, we are seeing the two natures of Christ: the spirit and the physical manifest in one. Before Christ the spirit and the body could not coexist as it does today.
When Christ came to Earth, he became an emulsifier. An emulsifier is an agent that brings two unlike things together. When you are mixing water and oil together, they will separate. But when you put in an emulsifier with these to the water and oil , then you make the water and oil combine together so they do not separate. When Christ came into our life he brought the spirit. When Christ came to our lives he allowed our flesh and the spirit to combine as one, as he himself was the first to bring this together.
In essence, Christ has made us new creations. We are no longer just flesh without the spirit, but we are flesh and spirit together. Before Christ we did not truly understand good or love or peace within ourselves. But with Christ we have the Spirit of God living in us daily. For some of us we will be able to acknowledge the spirit. For others they are not able to acknowledge the spirit because it has not been shown to them that they have good. But we all have a spirit inside of us.
Ephesians 2: 19- 22
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Let us acknowledge how good new creations we are on a daily basis. This is a continual process. Sometimes when you allow oil and water to sit even in the presence of an emulsifier, they may separate. But it’s up to us to shake up the solution daily. When we shake the solution (the flesh and the spirit) daily: by meditating, by reading the Scriptures, by showing love to each other… We are continually creating new creations through Christ. Let us not become separated in our body. Let us allow Christ to daily combine our flesh and spirit and produce good for God’s glory.