7/21/24 Word Count – 1,038 Reading Time – 4.6 minutes

I have mentioned before that I believe the spiritual realm is a place of both good and evil. And, because much of our decision making is influenced by the input we get from our spirit we are vulnerable to being swayed in good or bad directions through the urges we get in our spirit.

Spiritual urges can be subtle, or they can be overpowering. In either case it is important to be aware that what you are feeling may be more than just an emotional response. From the smallest, almost imperceptible distraction to an irresistible compulsion our motivations can be the result of spiritual influences coming from within or exterior to our own being.

As we go about our daily lives it is important to consider our actions from the spiritual perspective as well as the material. This is especially true of our moral concerns. Issues of morality, in my opinion, are very active battlefields in the struggle between good and evil. Every day we are confronted with choices between good and evil. The real problem is that these choices are rarely clearly black and white. We are usually confronted with the challenge of discerning between shades of grey.

It seems to me that one of our purposes in this life is to learn the difference between good and evil and to make a choice as to which we are going to use as standards for our decisions. In Ephesians 6:12 we are told “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,”

It’s clear from that passage that whether or not we are aware of it, or whether or not we believe it, we are involved in a struggle that is taking place in the spiritual realm. We can’t choose to be neutral because every moral decision we make impacts the battle. In Matthew 12:30 Jesus said, “Whoever isn’t with me is against me…”.  I don’t necessarily think He was saying that we need to make a choice in the matter. I think He means that what we do has an impact regardless of the intent we have. We may desire to be neutral; we may desire to stay out of the fight, but every decision and every action is an arrow in the battle fired in one direction or the other and making no choice is still a choice.

It is for this reason that we should strive to be intentional about our decisions, even the small ones. To make intentional decisions means we need to make informed decisions. We need to understand that there is such a thing as “good and evil”, and that there is a body of knowledge that provides clear information on the difference. That would be the Bible. Additionally, we have been given a guide who has walked in our shoes along a straight path of righteousness. Jesus was sent to show humanity the path to doing good. We’ve been given the tools to make good decisions, if we are inclined to be and do good.

Certainly, we live in a world where few choices are based on black and white. So, how does one discern good from evil from shades of grey? Especially given the fact that integrating the teachings of the Bible and of Jesus into our everyday reality can take time and work.

Christians have the advantage of the Holy Spirit. My take on the Holy Spirit is that It is an interface between our spirit and God’s Spirit. When we accept the veracity of God and Jesus we are imbued with the Holy Spirit. With this comes a higher and clearer understanding of God’s word. I guess It’s sort of like spiritual Cliff Notes.

In John 14:26 Jesus said, “But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” And 1 Corinthians 2:11 goes on to say, “For who knows a person’s thoughts  except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”

As the creator of everything God has the right and privilege to say what is good and evil. He has established what is good and evil in our physical and spiritual realms. He has also provided us with information on those topics in the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Plus, he gives us the ability to understand His teachings accurately through the Holy Spirit. We have everything we need to make good decisions, so why don’t we?

There seem to be 2 flies in the ointment. Our material beings and physical nature keep us focused on the input from our bodies that trigger chemical responses which, in turn, provide immediate and short-term pleasure and satiation at the physical level. When these physical sensations are interpreted through our lizard brain survival instincts they often translate to greed, fear, aggression and a bunch of other motivators that tend to run counter to responses like kindness, love, and other altruistic inclinations that are beneficial to our spiritual beings.

The second fly in the ointment is our free will. We have been given the ability to make our own choices, good or bad. In the absence of positive spiritual influences our choices are frequently in favor of purely physical considerations. But, since we also rely on spiritual input to influence our decision-making process our choices are swayed one way or another by our spirit. If our spirit is strongly influenced by God we have a strong chance of making good decisions. Likewise, in the absence of God’s influence our choices are likely to be poor, especially in terms of our spiritual health.

Fortunately, Galatians 5:22 provides a helpful metric that we can apply to our decision-making process. It says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” If the results of our decisions produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness there’s a good chance we are doing the right thing from a spiritual perspective.