Ruling Our Own Spirits

When Paul instructed the Ephesian believers to “make every effort to keep the unity of the faith and bond of peace”, he was tipping off his biased concern, and possibly expressing his own personal weakness. At least I hope so because it gives me some hope. Keeping peace with others is hard work. It was for Paul and he failed quite frequently. It is easy to see the weaknesses, flaws, and self-centeredness of others unleash a tirade of unhealthy and unkind words that serve only to exasperate the divide or to cower in a smug or arrogant seclusion; keeping the difficult person at arms length. Both responses, however, are equally wrong and reveal an inability on our part to rule our own spirit or emotions. The use of sharp and condescending words is my most trying struggle and continues to expose to me my own difficulty in ruling my spirit.

Proverbs 25:28 says, “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” In other words, I put myself at risk for other enemy attacks if I cannot rule my own spirit or emotions. This is most difficult when it comes to relationships.

To keep the unity of faith, we must rule our own spirits. Actually, we must daily yield our spirits to His if we are to have any hope at all. As Paul said, only when we crucify the flesh, through the spirit, can we hope to rule over our spirits and succeed in the relational call to unity.