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filled by spi ritual, not human,
!ove. You weren't born with that
!ove.
It
must be given to you and
developed by s upernat ur al
power.
There is something missing in
the natural mind of man. Man
was born incomplete. He was
made to need a vital missing ele–
ment. What is missing is the
Spirit of God. It empowers the
human mind to understand and
obey God's laws. The natural
mind of man- until worked with
by the Spirit of God--does not
understand that most of its men–
tal and emotional problems are
spi ritual in nature. The natural
mind, by itself, does not under–
stand it is breaking spiri tual
laws.
The natural human mind is
attuned only to physical causes
and relationships, to things it can
see or feel with the fi ve senses.
From this incomplete knowledge
humans speculate a bout t he
causes of their or others' prob–
lems. Many blame their problems
and fears totally on others, never
on their own weaknesses or wrong
habits of living or thinking which,
in turn, are caused by a wrong
spirit or atti tude of mind.
The Bible reveals the
source
of
that wrong spirit and atti tude.
Though sorne may not believe it ,
every human mind has been
inftuenced by Satan's evil att i–
tudes. Scripture reveals Satan as
" the prince of the power of the
a ir " (Ephesians 2:2-3). His
influence permeates the earth.
The results of his bombardment
of evil moods upon the minds of
human beings, moods that fuse
into human nature, are listed in
Galatians 5: 19-21.
Not ice these damaging actions
and attitudes: fornication, adul–
tery, idolatry, hatred, lust , sorce–
ry, strife, wrath, envying, mur–
ders, drunkenness, uncontrolled
living and thinking. From these
attitudes and ways of living
spring fear and depression.
This state of the human mind,
called in Scripture the carnal or
natural mind, is antagonistic to
God's laws and ways (Romans
8:7).
It
refuses to totally yield and
obey God in all things.
It
reasons
28
around what God says to do in
areas it doesn't want to change.
Even true C hr ist ians have to
work to root out these alti tudes
from their minds.
What , in contrast, a re the
fruits of God's Spirit? Scripture
again clearly explains: love, joy,
peace (including peace of mind) ,
patience, kindness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control, humility
(Galatians 5:22-23).
Sorne totally unconverted per–
sons have, through proper child–
rearing, developed sorne attitudes
that are in harmony wi th sorne of
God's Jaws, whether they recog–
nize God's laws or not. They reap
the automatic blessings in their
lives as a result. (See Romans
2:1 4.)
Love that Conquers Fear
The Bible reveals how mankind
ought daily to be living in every
sphere of life. "Man shall not live
by bread alone, bu t by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God," said Jesus (Matthew
4:4). J esus was quoting from
Deuteronomy, c hapter 8, verse
3.
J esus quoted Leviticus (chap–
ter 19, verse 18) when he said ,
"You shal l !ove your neighbor as
yourself."
You can ' t !ove someone unless
you know how. God's written
words, in Old Testament and
New, teach right marital, child–
rearing and human relationships.
God's Word also gives examples
of wrong human relat ionships,
examples of how not to live.
Scriptures also teach basic bealth,
fi nancia! and agricultura! laws for
human prosperity and success.
Most important of all, the
Scriptures reveal God's awesome
purpose for human life- that of
developing holy, righteous char–
acter. The gospel of the kingdom
of God that J es us preached
(Mark 1:14) is the good news
about how that character is devel–
oped.
The way we achieve that pur–
pose is by having God' s Spirit or
!ove in our mind. God's Spirit
operates only in accordance with
God 's laws.
It
leads to a construc–
tive, positive and upbui lding state
of mind. A human with this mind
respects, not degrades, bis physi–
cal, mental and spiri tual poten–
tia!. He also respects the potential
of all other human beings, wheth–
er or not they yet understand
God's purposes and laws.
God's love has a two-fold
thrust. Love first means loving
and trusting God. This is sum–
marized in the first four com–
mandments: it means having no
other persons or things, as gods,
in place of the true God.
It
means
not serving false gods and ideolo–
gies. l t means not defaming
God's name in word or by the
way we live.
It
means respecting
the things that are holy to God.
The second thrus t of God's law
of love is love toward other
humans, your neighbors. This is
summarized in the last six com–
mandments.
It
is honoring par–
ents, doing no murder (that
includes hat red, which is the spir–
it of murder), no adul tery, no
s tealing, no lying (or slander or
false wi tness), no coveting things
of others. J esus explained this
two-fold thrust of God's law of
love in Matthew 22:37-40.
T rue love, explained the apos–
tle Paul, "works no ill to his
neighbor." Of course not, because
God's love " is the fulfill ing of the
law" (Romans 13:1 0) .
God's !ove is not the way of
bate, compet ition, lust, envy, jeal–
ousy, covetousness, selfishness or
getting to exalt the self over
others or to put others down.
These ways are Satan's ways and
alt itudes, subtly placed in human
minds by a clever devil. They pro–
duce the bitter fruits of strife,
animosity, fear , guilt, walls of
separat ion and loss of hope.
Obedience to God's laws of
love produces the opposite re–
sults. Humans with this love have
feelings of neither superiority nor
inferiority toward others. We
obey God's Jaw of love and we no
longer t ry to get the best of others
and put them down. We no lon–
ger bate or fear those who set
themselves up as our enemies or
those that don't agree with our
values or the way we live. We
understand why they think and
do what they do. They bave been
The
PLAIN TAUTH