How do we know what is in our spirit?
Question:
I have a sort of complicated question, and really would like any logical answer you can give to help. Any advice you can give, based on Scripture, that helps to establish the truth as to what is the best way for a person to know themselves inside? For instance, I know the Scriptures teach that we each have a spirit within us and that only that spirit knows the things that are in our own minds (I Corinthians 2:11). However, there are several mistakes I make that I don’t have or that I can’t seem to make good excuses for and several things that I do in action that even I don’t fully understand why I do. So what’s the best way for a person to access this knowledge that only his spirit has the answers to when wanting to learn why they do what they do? Are we to just look inside ourselves and ‘select’ whatever reason we desire or think is right and ‘make’ that the reason? Are we to just be honest with ourselves? If so, how do we know when we are really being honest with ourselves when our 'selves' is the very thing that has deceived us so many times before? I don’t like the idea of looking for a ‘confirmation’ outside of scripture. And the problem is we always have these inner thoughts about who we are and why we do what we do but yet we are not even our own thoughts, correct? But a lot of us believe we are our thoughts.
Please help shed some light on this. I can’t seem to put this into a solid perspective.
Answer:
It appears you are starting off with a misunderstanding. A person is his spirit. As a human being, you are made of three parts: your body, your soul, and your spirit. "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thessalonians 5:23). Your body is the physical container for your spirit. "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life" (II Corinthians 5:1-4). Your soul is your life. And your spirit is that which is you -- that which is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and which will live on eternally.
When Paul stated, "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), he is stating that one man has no idea what is going on inside another man. Only that person knows what he thinking and what are his motivations. For the same reason, no man knows what God thinks except the Spirit of God. The only way I can know what you are thinking is when you tell me what you are thinking about. The only way I know what God thinks is when the Spirit revealed them through the apostles and prophets and had those thoughts written out for us.
If you have done the wrong thing, then the proper thing to do is own up to the fact that you made the wrong choice. Trying to excuse your bad judgment won't allow you to grow. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (I John 1:8-10).
