How iOS7 works like the Holy Spirit

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” Mark 2:22

So my mom called me and told me I have to do the iOS7 update. I really had no rush to do it, but when your mom does something cool before you, you just have to redeem yourself. So I deleted all my pics to free up 3gigs to download this iOS7 onto my iPhone 4. As mom said, the update was pretty awesome. It's a whole new platfom that looks sleek, clean and easy to use. I thanked God for saving me $199 on buying a new phone because this update made me feel like I was pretty brand new already.

That was until three days later when my phone went black and completely crashed. My first thought was , "Just like those people at Apple. They set my phone to self-destruct so that I would have to buy a new phone." But that wasn't the case at all.

It was simply a modern scenario of Jesus' 2000 year old parable -- "You can't put new wine in old wine skins." And it wasn't until my phone crashed that I truly understood that parable. We are flesh, soul, and spirit. A cellphone is hardware, application, and operating system.

You can't put a new operating system into old hardware and applications and expect to it to to function properly. So too, you can't place the Holy Spirit into your sinful soul and flesh and expect it to function properly. Your renewed Spirit and sinful flesh will constantly be at war for your soul. Therefore, when we are saved we must increase the strength of our Spirit in order to train our flesh to be in subjection to our Spirit.

We often wonder why when we are saved we don't immediately stop drinking, smoking, clubing, fornicating, etc. It feels like the moment we leave the alter we will never be tempted by our flesh again. But that is not the case. You now hold this new Holy Spirit of God inside of you, but you put it into some old hardware. The next step to walking out of sin is renewing your mind and soul, and strengthening your Spirit. "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world (flesh), but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think (soul). Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:2)

You do this by growing ever more closer to God by reading and hearing His word. The more the Word of God dwells with you the easier it becomes to let go of the things of your past. So as you walk out your new life and your new operating system, which I have cleverly named the iHS7 (Holy Spirit 7), utilize the Word of God to renew your mind and soul so that you don't crash like my iPhone 4.