the dichotomy of flesh and spirit

tonight at youth they continued with the whole 'stories' theme, and two of the stories had a shared theme of flesh vs spirit(another one referenced ewoks (win) while another said the word l'like' incorrectly 57 times). it's a rather intrinsic idea to christianity, with the eventual conclusion being that we sacrifice desires of the flesh to advance spiritually.

i think most christians come to the point where they have to make an actual decision to live up to their former decision to be a christian, and decide on flesh or spirit. for some people it's one 'do-or-die' moment, other people it's a process, but i think it's something everyone goes through.

anyways, one of the stories also talked about love (and misused 'like' 57 times).

something that is also fairly basic in christianity is the commandment to love God. it's an interesting concept, to love God. once again, it's something we've grown up with, but, to realize that God is God, and He does love us and wants us to love Him is rather staggering.

let it sink in.

breathe.

so, how to love God? i was thinking about how we express love for other people. there are, of course, the 5 love languages, which is a point that just occurred to me that i'll have to meditate more on.

but i guess for me, when i want to be better friends with someone, or when i care about someone, i want to know. i think desire for knowledge of someone or something is a form of love. i have a voracious and insatiable love of personality theory. it fascinates me to no end how people can be classified, but simultaneously break free of those classifications easily and still fit into them.

yes, that last sentence makes no sense, but this is life; get used to it.

so, i think away to love God is to know as much about Him as you can. obvious source: the bible. it would be, to use super-duper smart terminology, a primary source.

there are other ways to learn about God though. there is introspection, to see how He is working in your life. there is extrospection (new word coinage ftw) which is to see, or discuss how He is working in other peoples lives. there are also other 'supplementary' reads, people like Donald Miller or C.S. Lewis who write things to help clarify God. but, being God, the picture is still indiscernible on a certain level.

so, my original point was that love seems to be the point where flesh meets spirit. it's a basic, human need. arguably the most basic. i'm not sure if there is scriptural backing for this, but it'll make for good conversation in the future.

things of the spirit are more eternal, ethereal and existential.

things of the flesh are more immediate and intoxicating on a shallow level.

love seems to fit into all these categories.

(i realize i have not articulated what i wanted to say precisely, but i dont really have an issue with that. i've given you the foundation for some introspection. hopefully. that is enough. hopefully.)

a song to leave you with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_E9FoyUsA8

artist: the classic crime

title: the ascent

album: the silver chord

lyrics: none