A competent writing teacher returns student papers with a flood of marks and comments in red. She adds commas, circles misspelled words, suggests a better way to introduce a sentence, gives “smiley faces” at some of the parts she likes, and writes comments that compliment or challenge the ideas presented in the paper. She is a “word surgeon” who notes the quality of the writing and explains how it can be improved. She has “scrutinizing power.”
St. Paul tells us that we have someone who is checking out our lives with the same scrutinizing power a writing teacher has in checking papers. We can envision this Person putting invisible red marks inside our spirits, souls and bodies. Who is this “scrutinizer?” (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).
“The (Holy) Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. Among men, who knows what pertains to the man except his spirit that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.”
The Holy Spirit sees into the center of our beings—our inner spirit. Each of us is “writing” a story of our lives with each thought, action, and decision. Does what we do conform to the spirit within us whom God created? Are we becoming the masterpiece God had in mind when he first decided to create us? The Holy Spirit knows us better than we know ourselves and knows what God wants to do in our lives. What glorifies God? What needs changing?
There also is a competing spirit that scrutinizes us.
“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.”
We are immersed in the “spirit of the world.” This spirit tries to get us to conform to its values and to play the role it expects of us according to the purposes of the world system. What principles govern the “spirit of the world?” Financial success, conformity to popular opinion, prestige according to the world’s standards. We compare ourselves to others and put great value in how the world judges us.
The Holy Spirit is in opposition to the spirit of the world, as we know. Its standards are holiness, love of God, conformity to the will of God, and a willingness to be least in the eyes of the world so that we can become among the greatest in the Kingdom of God.
“Now the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything…”
There is ongoing conflict between the “natural man” and the “spiritual man” inside us. When we are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts, the “spiritual man” is born—the Holy Spirit begins to grow within us. We begin a new life that is deeper than our natural lives. It is this work of the Holy Spirit within us that most counts, for it is the life of the Holy Spirit that extends beyond death—when the natural man dies.
So we rejoice that we have an identity and a destiny that goes beyond what the spirit of the world can understand. In prayer we invite the Holy Spirit to scrutinize us daily so each of us can become authentic children of the Father. We need the encouragement that the “Scrutinizer” gives us, and welcome his corrections.
“Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages…” (Ps 145:13).
