Basic HTML Version
which is in him?"
(I
Cor. 2:1 1,
Revised A uthorized Version
throughout, except where noted).
This spirit is what we call the hu–
man mind. But notice what the rest
of the verse says: "Even so no one
knows the things of God except the
Spirit of God." Your spirit plus
God's Spirit equals a whole mind
fulfilled and satisfied . But your
spirit minus God's Spirit equaJs "a
hole in your head," and a hole in
your head equaJs frustration and
unhappiness.
But beware, there is a counter–
feit spirit that promises fulfillment,
but it cannot deliver. That spirit is
from Satan the devil , "the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit
who now works in the sons of dis–
obedience" (Eph. 2:2). This spirit
promises pleasure and power but
delivers only self-centeredness and
misery and death.
Our all-wise Creator God delib–
erately created your mind incom–
plete so that you would be moti–
valed to fill it- with his Spirit. By
the laws of physics, whenever there
is a vacuum there is a drive created
to fill it. The same is true in man's
mind. Man is driven to be fulfilled ,
but by himself he hasn' t discovered
how to do it.
So there are two ways to fill that
emptiness, but on ly one really
works. From the beginning God
showed and told man the one way
that works.
Show and Tell
The Creator showed the first man
the nature of bis incompleteness
and the way to wholeness. Oíd you
ever think about the significance of
God creating man out of the dust
of the ground, thus leaving, one
might say, a hole in the ground?
The lesson is plain: Unless man
fills the vacuum in bis head with
God's Spirit he will return forever
to the hole in the ground from
whence he was taken.
What about the inescapable les–
son of man's first sensation of
hunger? God (see Genesis 2: 15-18)
may have said: " That's you r stom–
ach, Adam. You have to eat the
r ight food, and then you will feel
satisfied. The emptiness you feel in
your stomach is like the emptiness
you have in your mind. You not
only need food, you need my Spirit
18
in your mind to be fulfilled and
satisfied.
If
you do not partake of
my Spirit, you will feel empty and
frustrated , hating your very life.
"You see those two trees over
there; the one on the right is the
Tree of Life. That is the tree to eat;
it will fill that spiritual emptiness
in your head. That tree represents
my way of life-the way of give,
the way of love produced by my
Spirit.
"That other tree is called the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evíl. Do not eat of that t ree.
It
looks good, but its fruit is bad and
you wiJl die from it. Spiritually it
represents the way of get- the way
of selfishness-the way that seems
like the right way to fill the spiri–
tual void in your head. Naturally,
you are filled when you get and
take, but I am telling you that
getting and taking only fills you
with unhappi ness, misery, a nd
eventuaJly death.
"1 am leavi ng it up to you,
Adam-you must develop your
own character by choosing between
the two ways- but choose the way
of give, and live!"
Adam soon became aware of yet
another emptiness within him. Per–
haps he said to God,
"1
feel like
1
am missing something
in
my life.
1
do not feel satisfied inside.
1
need
something but
1
don' t know what it
is." Then God may have said:
"You have an emotionaJ hole; you
are only half, not whole. You need
a wife. She will complete you and
make you whole." Then God put
Adam to sleep, and by taking one
of Adam's ribs made a woman
(Gen. 2:21-22). Then God closed
the rib cage in the man and the
woman filled bis life at bis side.
For the moment, Adam was very
happy with bis new wife and said,
"This is now bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2:23).
Now he felt whole- he thought he
had found the missing dimension in
bis life-that Eve was the end to
bis search for fulfi llment. But God
knew better.
Unfortunately man chose the
way of get. Satan deceived Eve,
Adam's wife, into believing that
the way to happiness- the way to
fill the hole-was by getting in–
stead of giving. And humans have
followed that way of get ever since.
Millennia after millennia, man has
exhausted himself in frustration,
trying to fill bis life with the way
of get.
But
Why?
Man failed to fill bis head with the
mind of God because he was not
repentant when God called atten–
tion to his error in choosing the
way of getting instead of giving.
Repentance means change, a nd
Adam and Eve did not see the need
to change.
They did not fully understand
what their spiritual emptiness
meant. They did not accept that
only being haJf there was not good
enough- that half is not whole.
Repentance is more than reaJiz–
ing that you have done wrong; it is
first realizing that you are incom–
plete! You must come to under–
stand that there is. none good but
God. You must come to see that
you do wrong because your mind is
incomplete. And until you come to
admit that you are wrong, you will
not have a whole mind . God gives
bis mind to those who realize they
are not whole, and want to change
their lives.
Adam and Eve could have re–
pented of what they were and sur–
rendered their lives in complete
submission to their Creator. In
such an attitude of repentance and
su bmission toward God, they
would have been able to resist Sa–
tan's temptation of satisfying self,
of trying to fill the hole in their
heads by getting and taking.
Through the Tree of Life they
would have gained the missing di–
mension to their minds-the mind
of God through the Holy Spirit.
Their minds would have been filled
with the mind of God.
And what is God? What is the
very essence of bis mind and be–
ing? "God is love"
(1
J ohn 4:8) .
And love is the way of give-the
way of outgoing concern: total self–
lessness.
Get Won' t Get ltl
What does the way of get produce?
Can you ever
get
enough to fill the
hole in your head? The truth is,
the way of get won't get it filled.
What happened to man after Adam
and Eve ehose the way of get?
Their son Caín, whose name
The
PLAIN TRUTH