Head and Heart

 

As believers in the Gospel of the Kingdom and in Yeshua's Resurrection from the dead, we are qualified to receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts. As a result, we are constituted living tabernacles or dwellings of Elohim in the Spirit. However, at times our behavior doesn’t line up with this holy presence.  It seems that we are also subject to another influencer - the 'mind' or 'head'.  Thus, we subsist in two worlds: one is made up of the flesh/lust and pride, and the other is Yeshua’s Spirit of lowliness/humility and the fruit of this Spirit (see Galatians 5:22).  

With this as a premise, I would like to compare the “head” to the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the “heart” to the tree of life. How can we tell the difference?  The answer seems simple: by the fruit.  But what if the "good" of the tree of knowledge looks very much like the fruit of the Spirit? How are we to distinguish between them?

Our ancestors, Adam and Eve, are a case in point, as they set up a precedent. They were created in the image and likeness of Elohim; they had the Father’s nature in them, being one with the Creator in whom they were "living and moving, and having their being" (see Acts 17:28).  But because YHVH gave them physical, earth-made bodies, their mind/head connected them to the five senses and the physical world.  In chapter 8 of Romans, Paul points out this dichotomy in several statements: “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh... "The mind set on the flesh is death... “The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward Elohim… "The flesh cannot please Elohim“ (Romans 8:5-8).  Yeshua, likewise, warned His disciples: "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matthew 26:4).

The “good” of the forbidden tree was Adam and Eve’s demise. They looked, and when they saw that the fruit on the forbidden tree was “good,” they swallowed Satan’s bait and reasoned in their minds, “What can be wrong with that which is 'good, ' especially if it will make me wise and I will be like Elohim?"  This very thinking demonstrates the inherent deception.

How could they become something that they already were, that is, being in the image and likeness of Elohim? In that state, they lacked nothing. It was totally superfluous, not to mention harmful, to try to become like Elohim by gaining knowledge of "good and evil".

We were born into this world as sons and daughters of Adam. Human beings live from the “head” and creaturely instincts.  We analyze our thoughts and experiences by what is ‘good for me’ and what is ‘not good’ for me (and for everybody else). The spiritual deception originates from ignoring the fact that Satan is masquerading as an angel of light/good.  He thus, influences our minds and uses the “flesh” to manifest his kingdom nature, and as a result, we end up being governed by the law of sin and its consequences.  Paul is very clear about this judicial matter:  ^“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit of Life is peace” (Romans 8:5-6 emphasis added).  

As mentioned above, we have received the rule of YHVH’s Kingdom when the Holy Spirit entered our hearts. His peace comes from the Tree of Life along with all the other fruit of the Spirit.  We now have free access to the Tree of Life and as expressed by Isaiah the prophet: "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance” (Isaiah 55:1-2).

Normally, when the holidays come around, the level of stress, worry, fear, and anxiety can express itself in all forms of unloving behavior and show up in our ‘basket of fruit’.  May we, in this season of YHVH’s feast days, offer up our hearts and minds to Him, who is full of loving kindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness and compassion, so that our hearts will also be full of the same.