It's Gotta Be the Spirit (Friday Devotional)

“If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you.”

- Romans 8:11

In a popular series of ads in the 1980s and 1990s, filmmaker Spike Lee reprised his role as Mars Blackmon, a character from his 1986 movie She’s Gotta Have It, in order to ask NBA superstar Michael Jordan an important question: “What makes you the best player in the universe?” Mars had all kinds of ideas: it could be Jordan’s haircut, his shorts, maybe even his socks. But again and again he returned to his chief theory, which His Airness dismissed every time: “It’s gotta be the shoes!” Mars knew that Michael Jordan was an incredible basketball player, and he could see that there were plenty of things about Jordan that made him unique—but he got so hung up on Jordan’s style that he missed what truly makes him special.

When you look at the lives of fellow Christians, it’s normal to repeat Mars’s mistake on a spiritual level. You admire another believer’s life in Christ, marveling at their peace in times of crisis, their compassion for others, and their forgiveness of others’ failings, and you look closely to figure out what it is that makes them different, what give them their spiritual power. Is it the way they pray? The books they read? The people they associate with? The things they spend their money on? The music they listen to? The closer you look, the more things you find to imitate, yet none seem like the secret to their sanctification.

New life in Christ doesn’t come from cosmetic changes in behavior, however well-meaning they are—no matter how much you try to look like the model believers in your church and your community, all you are giving yourself is a new lifestyle, not a new life. New life can only come from the one who raised Jesus from the dead, the one who wants now to dwell in you and offer you life in Him. If you are in pursuit of that special something that seems to set some believers apart, look deeper than what you see on the outside to the one who rules their hearts. As Mars Blackmon might say: “It’s gotta be the Spirit!”