By Gary Kelly

September 7, 2025

Our “Very Being,” Worldly and Eternal

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33a) “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to forfeit his very being? For what might a man give in exchange for his life?” (Mark 8:36-37)

“Do not be deceived, God is not to be mocked. For whatever the man would sow, this also will he reap: because the one who sows into his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows into the spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.” (Galatians 6:7-8)

Our “very being,” our eternal spirit, is what we “forfeit,” for it is our “spirit that returns to God Who gave it,” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) as “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:50) “For we will all be brought before the judicial bench of God, for it has been written, ‘As surely as I live, says the Lord, (Isaiah 49:18) every knee will bend before Me and every tongue will openly give praise to God.’ (Isaiah 45:23) So then each of us will give an account to God on his own behalf.” (Romans 14:10-12) See also Isaiah 45:23; Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 20:11-15.

“For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

“Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? (Hebrews 12:9 See also 2 Corinthians 5:1)

Our worldly goals may be honorable, respectful, and align Biblically with marriage, family, occupation and good citizenship, yet fall short of our Creator’s eternal purpose and pleasure, a personal relationship, KNOWING Him. “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for You have created all things, and for Your pleasure they are and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

In a parable Jesus mimicked a person saying: “I will say to my very being, ‘Self, you have many good possessions being stored up for many years to come: you must continually rest, you must right now eat, drink, enjoy yourself.’ Then God said to him, ‘Foolish man, on this night they are demanding back your life from you: but what you have prepared, to whom will it be given?’ This is how it will be for the one who stores up for himself and does not store up riches in God.” (Luke 12:19-21) 

“That they would KNOW You”

The emphasis on “KNOWING God” is imperative in having a personal relationship that is eternal, as Jesus prayed “this is eternal life, that they would KNOW You, the only true God, and Whom You sent, Y’shua Messiah.” (John 17:3) Jesus was adamant about KNOWING GOD and made it clear when He said many may do wonders and miracles in His name, but He would declare to them “I never knew you, depart from Me.” (Matthew 7:22-23) “Behold! I have been standing at the door and I am knocking: if someone would hear My voice and would open the door, then I will enter to him and I will dine with him and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)

After Jesus was crucified for our sins and rose from the dead, upon proving Himself to Thomas declared: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had KNOWN Me, you would have KNOWN My Father also. From now on you do KNOW Him and have seen Him." (John 14:6-7)

"We do not know God with our flesh, with our hands or with our brains. We know God with our spirit." --John G Lake (Spiritual Hunger, The God-Men)

In the world we are primarily mindful and aware of our “flesh and blood,” but not our spirit. For the “natural man does not take the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know, because they are discerned spiritually.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)

"Knowledge unenlightened by the truth of God is dark knowledge. We may have a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D., but without the Lord all we have is dark information. It may help navigate us in the world of darkness, but by itself will never lead us to the TRUTH. Apart from the revelation of the Spirit of God, none of us could ever find our way into the light. Darkly educated people are like those whom Paul described to his young protégé', Timothy, as 'always learning but never able to acknowledge the TRUTH.'" (2 Timothy 3:7) -- Myles Munroe (Rediscovering the Kingdom)

Our spirt or “very being” is also described as the “secret person of the heart” and the “inner man” (1 Peter 3:4; Romans 7:22) and is how we are to “know” the Father and the Son. “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” (Proverbs 20:27) “He would give to you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened in power by His Spirit working in your inner man.” (Ephesians 3:16)

“My Kingdom is not of this world.”

“Y’shua answered, ‘My dominion is not of this world: if My dominion were of this world, My attendants (servants) would have been fighting whomever so that I would not be given over to the Jewish leaders: but now My kingdom is not from here.’” (John 18:36)

What is the Kingdom? “For the Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)

Jesus said “it seemed good to the Father” to “hide these things from the wise and prudent,” for it is for those who have ears to hear. (Matthew 11:15-30) God’s wisdom is a “hidden mystery” and “foolishness” to the natural man, because the wisdom of God is spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:10-16)  

“You must be Born Again” (John 3:3-7)

“And so many as did take Him, He gave them authority to become children of God, to those who believed in His name, they are not (born) from blood and not from the desire of flesh and not from the will of man but were begotten from God.” (John 1:12-13) “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

"You cannot be born a Christian. Jesus says 'you must be born again.'" --Greg Laurie

“Because you all have been born again, not from a perishable seed but imperishable, through the Word of the living and forever enduring God. (1 Peter 1:23)

“…In order that the God of our Lord Y’shua Messiah, the Father of glory, would have given you a spirit of wisdom and revelation for your knowledge of Him, that the eyes of your heart have been enlightened for you to have known what is the hope of His inheritance, the riches of His glory, of His inheritance for the saints. … so that He would give to you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened in power by His Spirit working in your inner man.” (Ephesians 1:17-18, 3:16)

“But you must continually seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things will be provided for you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious of itself: each day’s trouble is enough for that day.” (See Matthew 6:33-34)

“He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)

The Way to KNOW the Father is by KNOWING Jesus (John 14:9)

The Way to KNOW Jesus is by KNOWING the WORD. (John 1:1,14)

The Way to KNOW the WORD is by having the Holy Spirit reveal the WORD. (1 Corinthians 2:10-16)

The Way to HAVE the Spirit is to be Born Again of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-7)

The Way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is Baptism in the Holy Spirit (John 1:33, Acts 19:2-7)

(This and more at EarsToHear.net. Scriptures from One New Man Bible.)

Gary Kelly is the author of “Lessons of the Holy Spirit: A Guide for Entering the Kingdom of God and Discover Why it Pleased God to Hide His Kingdom from the Wise.”