When we accept Jesus Christ and repent of our sins, we receive the Holy Spirit as a gift. As we then live by the Word of God, we can grow up in faith, stand on the rock of faith, and then become people of spirit. However, we still have traces of flesh that faintly remain though we have cast off every form of evil by fighting against it to the point of shedding blood (Hebrews 12:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:22).
The traces are like the faint marks of use. However hard we clean it, a used product has traces of use whereas a new one has no trace of anything. In the same manner, all people hold such traces even after throwing away all evil because they have original sins they inherited, the fleshly knowledge and experience they stored in growth, and their personality and temperament.
For instance, some people are brimming over with love but are inherently indecisive and have hard time making a decision. Others like to give to others, but they do it spontaneously as they are influenced by their mood. Still others are diligent and exemplary, but they appear to be a little cold and inflexible.
These are 'traces of flesh'. In order to be a great worker of God like fathers of faith in the Bible, we need to convert traces of flesh into spiritual traits and take advantage of them. Thus after we become men of spirit we have to undergo the process of transforming traces of flesh. Thereby we can achieve the heart of whole spirit and become partakers of the divine nature.
Why do we have to be partakers of the divine nature?
2 Peter 1:3-4 explains the reasons why we have to become partakers of the divine nature after accepting Jesus Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit. This is because God wants those who used to live in sins, evil, and lust to be renewed by the power of the Spirit, change into people who resemble God, and to dwell in the shining glory like the sun in Heaven.
In 2 Peter 1:3-4 we find:
"Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust" (2 Peter 1:3-4).
Continuing with verses 5-7, it tells us that the specific ways to take part in the divine nature are to possess spiritual faith, have spirit renewed by the Spirit in us, and fill ourselves with spiritual knowledge together with moral excellence. Furthermore, we have to apply self-control, perseverance, godliness, and brotherly kindness, and be filled with love saying:
"Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love" (2 Peter 1:5-7).
Lastly, the verses 8-10 puts an emphasis on the reason why we have to increase these qualities and become partakers of the divine nature; it is because otherwise we might be useless and unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord. That is why God urges us to participate in the divine nature:
"For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble" (2 Peter 1:8-10).
The trace of flesh and its conversion procedure
The procedure makes a trace of flesh melt in the divine nature and converts it into a spiritual trait
♦ Step 1: Fill the deficiency caused by the trace of flesh
1. We need to fill the deficiency of love. If one has received appropriate love while growing up, then he knows that rebuking and dismissing as well as forgiving and embracing can come from love. Meanwhile, if someone else lacks love, she doesn't know how to express her love properly and just continues to forgive and embrace others because she thinks it is love. Another person might always rebuke and reprimand others thinking it is love.
2. We should fill the deficiency of spiritual knowledge. The Word of God has yet to be completely cultivated in a person's heart though he has high level of knowledge of the Word. He considers that what he has realized and understood is all and is not able to comprehend a deeper level. However, the same spiritual knowledge can have an enormous range of use and methods of application depending on how much the user has cultivated the Word spiritually in the heart. Those who lack such knowledge of spirit apply the Word within their limits.
3. We have to fill the deficiency of perfect goodness. At this level we have no ill feelings whatsoever against an evildoer for what they may bring against us. Yet this is just the second level of goodness among the four levels of goodness, which means we need more to fulfill the requirement. For instance, sometimes we think we are practicing the truth, but we may give hard times to others. It means we lack perfect goodness. Suppose you are driving on a two-lane expressway with speed limit of 60km/hr and a car behind you is flashing his lights at you. But to observe the law you just keep going just 60km with no consideration of the car. This is caused by deficiency of perfect goodness.
♦ Step 2: Fill the shortages caused by the trace of flesh
1. We should fill shortage of love. In forgiving and understanding others, we have to discern up to which point we have to. But being short of love, we can't do it well. In some cases we should understand and forgive within a certain limit while in other cases we should embrace beyond the limit. If we are short of love we can't discern such things. It hinders us from realizing deeper level of love in more detail.
2. We should fill shortage of spiritual knowledge. Of course at this level we can understand the heart of God more than people with the deficiencies. As aforementioned, the Word of God can be applied differently according to given situations and people. Thus, the same spiritual knowledge can have an enormous range of use and methods of application depending on how much the user has cultivated the Word spiritually in the heart. People short of spiritual knowledge may be able to apply a Bible verse in only 5 or 6 ways which could be otherwise applied in dozens of ways and different situations.
3. We should fill shortage of goodness. Suppose we are on the two-lane express way with speed limit of 60km/hr. We drive at 60km/h but a car is following flashing his lights. Sometimes we may consider the driver and drive faster, and other time we will not. We try our best to consider others, but we don't do it all the time. This is caused by shortage of perfect goodness.
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