The Path to Wholeness
‘The spirit of life’. That was the description
of the spiritual deposit God made in human beings on creation
morning. And it was part of His plan to make man whole.
When we are able to fellowship with God, then and only then,
do we truly begin spiritual journey to wholeness. Putting ‘the
spirit of life’ into us was God’s deliberate, in
fact, elaborate plan to have us fellowship with him. For sure,
it was this ‘spirit of life’ that made the difference
between human beings and the rest of creation. “Then the
Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed
into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became
a living being” Genesis 2: 7, Amplified Bible.
Notice that it is ‘spirit’ with small letter ‘s’.
This then does not refer to the Holy Spirit, as in Romans 8:
2, Amplified Bible, for example: “For the law of the Spirit
of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being]
has freed me from the law of sin and of death”. This spirit
is the human spirit. So, that is the first thing we see here.
Human beings were made as spirits.
Meaningful fellowship begins with this understanding: we are
spirits. ‘But there is a spirit in man, and the breath
of the Almighty gives him understanding’ Job 32:8. There
is a spirit in man. It is this spirit, along with life, that
made man a living being. So, as Teilhard de Chardin rightly
puts it, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience”. A
human being is a spirit, who has a soul, and lives in a body.
We are essentially spirits.
But you say, ‘I don’t get it. What does being spirit
has to do with fellowshipping with God, and being whole?’
It has everything to do with both. Now, read the correlation
between our being spirits and fellowship with God, as Jesus
himself showed it: Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe
Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain,
nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father…But the hour is coming,
and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father
in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship
Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in
spirit and truth” John 4:21-24.
God is Spirit. If man is going to fellowship with this God
who is Spirit, then man himself must be spirit. ‘The true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth’.
It is interesting that God is described here as ‘Father’.
Remember his invitation to ‘friendly relationship; companionship:
the fellowship of father and son’? Hallelujah. God invites
us to worship him in spirit, because he made us spiritual beings.
It is only in spirit can we, as humans, communicate or commune
with God. All genuine contact or communion with God is in spirit
and in truth. ‘Those who worship him must worship in spirit…’
There is one more preparation God made to have us fellowship
with him. Being spirit is very important. But that on its own
is not enough. The human being must have the same kind of life
that God has, if he is going to worship God and fellowship him.
There is an order of life that God has; it is this kind of life
man must share with him if they are to commune. After all, ‘fellowship’
may well be ‘fellows in the same ship’. The picture
that comes to mind is ship travel years before air travel became
common. Often, fellows will share a room or meals for many weeks
in the same ship, as they travel towards a common destination.
Over such a long period, a certain feeling of kinship may develop
among ‘fellow-shippers’.
The common ground, the same ‘ship’ we share with
God is ‘Zoë’, God’s kind of life. That
was what God breathed into Adam on the sixth day of creation,
and man became a living being. If we are lacking in this life,
then there is no ground for fellowship or communion. This is
a most important principle. It is this God kind of life that
elevates us above the animal kingdom, and brings us to God’s
plane, for fellowship and communion. This does not make us God,
or equal with God, just in the same way that a son shares his
parents’ genetic makeup but does become neither his father
nor his mother. Yet, both father and son share certain fundamental
life principles together.
When God breathed in man the breath of life, he bequeathed
to man the kind of life He, as God, enjoys; howbeit, in a smaller
measure. And we cannot emphasize it enough; it is this life
that is the common ground for the divine and human to embrace.
This is why God warns man after he gave him this life, in essence,
‘never lose this life’. Genesis 2: 15- 17 gives
the account: ‘Then the LORD God took the man and put him
in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden
you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die.”
As long as Adam had this life, he enjoyed fellowship with God.
You could say, they had the same ‘spiritual blood’
running in them; so there was common ground for kinship and
communion. But Genesis chapter three tells the story, tragic
story, of Man’s Fall. Man had decided he wanted to test
this out. He did eat of the ‘forbidden tree’ and
died. Death here does not refer to a cessation of the human
life, because we know that Adam continued to ‘live’
even after he ate of the ‘forbidden tree’. Remember
that he was made as a spirit, and spirit does not 'die' in the
natural sense. This is why we are going to live forever, either
in heaven or hell.
Notice something very important though. The moment man ate
of that tree he died. What this means is that he lost the God
kind of life that made him ‘a living soul’. ‘So
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise,
she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband
with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves coverings.
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden’
Genesis 3:6-8.
The immediate consequences of man’s disobedience give
us an idea about the nature of this ‘life’ he lost.
First, Adam and his wife suddenly realized that they were naked,
uncovered, and vulnerable to the enemy. The ‘glory’
is gone. ‘Zoë’ is removed. Then they tried
to improvise, to cover-up. When the true life is lacking, man
always improvises, always invents new substitutes. There has
to be a covering for man. It is either God’s glory or
the ‘fig leaves’ of humanism. This life was a covering
for man, a divine glory over his being.
Second thing that happens is that man and wife hid themselves
away from God’s presence. What has changed? This man and
wife used to revel in God’s presence. God used to be their
delight; the divine used to be their portion. Now, they are
running away. What has changed is that the God- kind of life
is gone as a result of disobedience. It was not that Adam no
longer wanted God’s presence; it is that he could no longer
share in that Presence. The common ground is gone. Life is lost.
Now, that which is entirely human could no longer interact with
He who is divine. Eternal life is the ground for fellowship,
the divine principle that God shares with us and in us. Until
you discover, and share in this Life, you can not find the meaning
of life, nor share in glorious fellowship with God.
Third, man must be sent out of the garden and out of God’s
presence. It is not that God no longer desires Adam’s
fellowship; it is that there is no shared life. No ground for
fellowship and communion. His divine heart was saddened by this
loss of a dear son and friend. But he must ‘endure’
this loss until the Life is restored through His Son, Jesus
Christ. This is why restoration of Life is the stated goal of
the Redemptive work, and of Christ’s entire mission to
earth. ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life’ John 3: 16.
So then, this is the path to wholeness: maintaining fellowship
with God in spirit. This nurtures the divine life he has graciously
shared with us, and renews the spirit in us. It is in communion
with God that we maintain wholeness. But this kind of communion
is only possible because of the shared Life we have with God
and in God. Adam lost that Life, and his whole world fell apart.
Disharmony, death and shame ruled in his world. But there is
a ‘new and living way’. It is reclaiming the Life
through Christ Jesus, and constant fellowship with God our Father.
This is the simple but sure path to wholeness. We must stay
connected with the Source, God, because “in Him we live
and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets
have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”
Acts 17: 28.
If you are reading this, and thinking, 'how do I become whole?',
may I suggest that the best way to begin is by asking Jesus
Christ to be your savior and friend. He will come into your
life, share with you his God-kind of life,and make you whole.
If you have further questions about this, feel free to contact
me and I will be glad to help..
Visit DiscoverPurpose
blog for more.
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