Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10 (KJV)
Right spirit – Before we jump into what the right spirit is, are you familiar with the wrong spirits? Too many of us are.
We get caught up in selfishness, greed, envy, lust. We gossip and make accusations before knowing the facts. We tear people down before building up. I know these well. I’ve contributed to these very actions, and I’ve seen them done towards me. It’s not the right spirit.
Notice how the spirit goes hand-in-hand with the heart. In order to have a right spirit, one must have a clean heart. If our hearts are already set on dislike and accusations towards an individual, we will never have the right spirit within us to cause us to serve one another in the body of Yeshua. As I explained before, the heart is everything you are, and if it’s not clean and pure, than your tolerance towards others with different views will be less. Everything they do will cause you discomfort and possibly anger leading to gossip and destruction. I know because I’ve done it.
There’s an aphorism called Hanlon’s Razor which says, “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by carelessness”. Just think if we all viewed each other in this light. We’d probably give each other the benefit of the doubt and begin conversations to help build rather than to tear down. But let’s go one step further. Let’s try to view each other in the love of Yeshua. Imagine if we did that how great our community would be. If we accepted that not everyone has to be a foot, or a hand, but rather if we respected our differences and realized that these same differences are what makes us a body. Our heart towards one another would be filled with love and peace. This is a body. A working unit of different parts designed for the purpose of the whole. But we each need a clean heart. We need to start with that.
Then God’s right spirit will be renewed within us. This is also His steadfast spirit. It’s a spirit that is longsuffering, stable, and unmoved. It is a spirit designed for the purpose of building and growing, not tearing down.
In our conversations, which spirit are we portraying?
Love this!