The Spirit-Given Life

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
- John 6:63

What does this phrase mean?

Jesus was speaking to a Jewish crowd, prodding them to reconsider the ultimate source of true life. For this crowd, they would have expected to receive true life as an inheritance from their ancestors. They were born into the right community. And, on top of that, they would have expected to receive life as a reward for their religious practices.

We also look for life in similar places.

In our culture more broadly, we look for life by being good and doing good. We expect life would flourish if we could all just contribute generously to the common good.

And in our religious context, we look for life from our religious practices: prayer and Bible reading and giving and serving and church attendance. Or we look to our faith story for life: "On such and such a day, I raised my hand / prayed the prayer / went to receive prayer ...". Or we expect to find life through our obedience, to live true life because we avoid disrespecting our parents and murder and lust and gossip.

All of these activities are good. But apart from the Spirit, they won't produce life in us. Those things count for nothing on their own. The Spirit gives life.

Ask the Lord to show you where you are looking for life apart from the Spirit. Ask him to show you what connection with that life-giving Spirit looks like today.

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