How we can better people is a vital question, especially if we understand that we will be judged—both in the future and, in some sense, throughout our lives. Jesus primarily taught how human beings are to become better people, and in doing so, he saved them. His way is the way of improvement by the spirit.
Would indulging ourselves improve us? No. Becoming gluttonous, falling into drunkenness, wasting life on drugs, gambling away our ability to provide for family, or gaining wealth through criminality—these are not improvements when judgment is real and inevitable.
Would philosophical thinking and mere intellectual cleverness improve us? No. We could make ourselves like the most advanced AI—able to answer every difficult question, always correct in reasoning, masterminding great achievements in military technology, medicine, or theology—and still commit heinous crimes. Worse, such intelligence might greatly amplify the harm caused by our wrongdoing. Intelligence increases power, not goodness.
There is a third way: improvement by spirit. As human beings, we possess this third dimension of life. Spirit transcends both flesh and mentality. It is our capacity to rise above appetite and error, above physical weakness and intellectual failure. By spirit, we have the potential to live nobly, even if we are not nobles by birth or status.
Spirit is our ability to exercise willpower—to overcome both mental failings and bodily weaknesses. Yet willpower alone is not enough. We can rise above only if we are rightly directed toward what is truly worthy. That direction itself must come from above mere physical impulses and human reasoning. Given the right spirit—the pure leadings, the wisdom of what is true—we can place our whole being behind it. We come alive in that spirit, animated to live rightly.
This is what leads to the ideal outcome when we are judged. It saves us.
Jesus came with teachings that direct and lead us in the spirit. His way came by spirit and leads in the way of spirit and truth. He then died for sins, rose by the power of his divine Father, and asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to his followers, so that they might be led even more fully in the life of the spirit.
By becoming his followers, we are given this spirit-directed life. But this requires a true beginning again. We must turn away from lives driven by physical appetite and mere intellect and enter into a life led by the spirit. It is like rebirth.
This rebirth saves us from the judgment incurred by living according to body and mind alone. It results in a greater kind of love—one that is pure, truthful, genuine, and sincere. Love is no longer bound to physical indulgence or limited human reasoning. It becomes more divine, more worthy, more saintly.
This is the ultimate goal. From it come true hope and rightly grounded faith. We gain real stability in life—not merely being saved, but becoming one with God and with Jesus, his Son.
