The Other Being

‘For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ‘ I Corinthians 2:11 

Ekene loves God. An accountant in an upcoming startup, she enjoys her relationships with colleagues and has made few friends. Ekene’s day starts with prayer, talking to God about her life and expectations. She would also pray for her family, and sing praises, from the bedroom to the bathroom. Assisted by her phone, the praise songs continue till she is ready for work.

At 6:30 am, armed with her laptop bag and coffee mug, Ekene would enter her car and drive to work. Once there, she would focus on tasks with her productivity system. She has an app that routes priority emails to a database that she opens up once work starts, so she knows what to tackle right off the bat. She has templates created for responding to different queries and doesn’t have to draft new responses all the time. A time tracking tool, a checklist of tasks to tackle, schedule developed the day before to ensure she meets deadlines, and a podcast or online course during her break period. Ekene is efficient. 

At 5 pm, she would get back into her car, exhausted, but grateful that she completed all or most of her tasks for the day. On the road for an hour, forty-five minutes, a tired Ekene settles down at home to focus on the TV shows she follows, to de-stress. 

At 9 pm, she would take a bath and prepare for bed. After her bath, though, she would organize her schedule for the next day and fit everything into her to-do list. The alarm on her watch beeps at 10 pm, time to sleep. She puts off the bedside lamp and sighs with relief, grateful for the end of another productive day. Before she dozes off, the nagging questions rear their heads again. What next? Is this it?

There is another Ekene, the spirit. She looks like Ekene and lives in her. This Ekene is the one that connects to God. However, she is always more or less forgotten. Each morning, she would try to relate to God’s Spirit, but would be cut off when the physical decides it’s time to end the prayer. The spirit would continue to try during the day and night, in times of worship, praise, or whenever the physical is inspired and thinks about God. Her spirit knows her and appreciates all her work, but knows that true life isn’t lived in the physical. A child of God dwells in the spiritual, by connecting to God’s Spirit.

The spirit asks those nagging questions, hoping that the physical would pick them up and run. She hopes that the physical would dig deep and ask herself what and where the source of life dwells. The spirit is aware that connection to God’s Spirit would give Ekene God’s life and enable her beyond her abilities. Residing with God’s Spirit would lead, instruct, and train Ekene in excellence. What the physical has achieved may be good, but the spirit knows there is much more.

The king and priest before God in Christ is the spirit-man. The one to arise out of darkness is the same. When we look to the physical-man and expect greatness, we fail. The one to keep renewed, alert, and ready is the spirit, the one that calls to God, and He shows up. The scriptural references to Christ’s physical form were limited, not much was said. However, when the Spirit of God took over, Israel knew. No matter what we can achieve in the physical, it cannot be compared to what we become when our spirit connects to the Spirit of God. He knows the plan of God for every individual and how we can achieve those plans.

‘Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For Yah , the Lord , is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation.’ Isaiah 12:2-3 

Till next time, be transformed!!