Digging Deeper
If pride and faith are just reflections of who is in control of your life, then the other roots must also have deeper issues they reflect in the same manner. It might be more precise to say that pride and faith are reflections of who has control of your life in the present. And greed and hope are reflections of who has control of your future.
A greedy person accumulates things because it is a way to exercise control over the future. Buying something gives you the sense of having something in the future. It is, effectively, providing for yourself rather than allowing God to provide for you. It holds for eating as well. Greedy people may overeat in an attempt to secure their own future satisfaction or happiness.
However, this theory leaves lust and love to be issues of control of the past. But the past is past, so is there really control to be had?
Maybe lust, greed, and pride are stages of sin. Lust is the raw desire, greed is desire with an object, and pride is desire with an object plus an action.
Perhaps it’s how sin relates to the three parts of who you are: body, soul, and spirit. Your body is your physical make up. Your soul is your emotional, mental, or psychological make up. And your spirit is what lives in you; either the spirit of the world, which you are born with, or the Holy Spirit, Who is offered to you instead.
Then pride is a sin of the body, greed is a sin of the soul, and lust is a sin of the spirit. That would explain why it is so hard for me to diagnose anyone with lust because…how can I judge another man’s spirit? And is it possible to really know whether or not another person is saved anyway? And does this mean lust is only a sin for non-Christians? Or even if we have accepted the Holy Spirit, does the spirit of the world still live is us? I always thought once you received the Holy Spirit it only remained to fight against your own flesh and soul to avoid sin.
There are more questions than answers today, but questions make great shovels.
A greedy person accumulates things because it is a way to exercise control over the future. Buying something gives you the sense of having something in the future. It is, effectively, providing for yourself rather than allowing God to provide for you. It holds for eating as well. Greedy people may overeat in an attempt to secure their own future satisfaction or happiness.
However, this theory leaves lust and love to be issues of control of the past. But the past is past, so is there really control to be had?
Maybe lust, greed, and pride are stages of sin. Lust is the raw desire, greed is desire with an object, and pride is desire with an object plus an action.
Perhaps it’s how sin relates to the three parts of who you are: body, soul, and spirit. Your body is your physical make up. Your soul is your emotional, mental, or psychological make up. And your spirit is what lives in you; either the spirit of the world, which you are born with, or the Holy Spirit, Who is offered to you instead.
Then pride is a sin of the body, greed is a sin of the soul, and lust is a sin of the spirit. That would explain why it is so hard for me to diagnose anyone with lust because…how can I judge another man’s spirit? And is it possible to really know whether or not another person is saved anyway? And does this mean lust is only a sin for non-Christians? Or even if we have accepted the Holy Spirit, does the spirit of the world still live is us? I always thought once you received the Holy Spirit it only remained to fight against your own flesh and soul to avoid sin.
There are more questions than answers today, but questions make great shovels.
posted by Amy at
6:32 PM
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