The human spirit. What is it? It is ours to control?
Luke 23:46 (NASB) And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. (NASB)
The final words of Jesus who is called the Christ, spoken from the agonizing death scene at Calvary, are addressed to His Father in heaven. He summoned all the strength that remained in His human form to cry out with a loud voice, within the hearing of all those present that day. Someone recorded His final words so that I can ponder their meaning today.
The human spirit. What is it? It is ours to control. We decide for ourselves the nature of our spirit’s commitment. Spirituality is popular today and many assume that spirituality based on anything at all is good for people and makes their lives better. To a certain extent, that is probably true. But, the spirituality that Jesus commends to us here in His last words from the cross just prior to His death reveal a spirituality that was, in fact, an intimacy with God, His Father in heaven. His Spirit was in communion with the Father throughout His life and, at His last breath, He gave His own Spirit up to the Father.
Personal spirituality, which is centered upon this very same Jesus who suffered death on the cross of Calvary, is at the very heart of the Christian faith. This same Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” Coming to God through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross is not popular today, but this is the clear teaching of the Word of God. Wishing it were different will not make it different.
We must come to the Father through Jesus Christ. By that I mean that we must take upon ourselves the covering of His righteousness and forgiveness so that the Father sees us though Him… as belonging to Him… as a child by adoption. All this is done through faith, which is the bedrock of belief, and even the faith to wholeheartedly believe that we hold such a favored position with Almighty God is given by Him, as well. How wonderful it is! The salvation He offers started with Him, and even the faith to believe is given by Him. I am the recipient of His abundantly free grace and all I had to do was open myself up to His indwelling.
Your spirit is yours, dear one. How, where, and to whom you surrender it is your choice to make. Will you by faith receive the position that Jesus Christ knew with the Father in Heaven?
One day (none of us knows when that day will come) we will all breathe our last. Every relationship except the one that is spiritual in nature will be left behind. Whose will you be when the “valley of the shadow of death” is entered? My life is already committed to Him, and one day I will release to Him my spirit as well.