Soul Care
“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” (3 John 2)
Your body is like an “earth suit” that will eventually die and be replaced with a new, celestial, Christlike body. Paul writes, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). The treasure, the thing that matters most, the thing that will live for eternity, is your soul. John writes, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” Someone has estimated that the average body contains enough phosphorous to make 800,000 match heads, enough sugar to make 60 cubes, enough salt to cover 20 spoons, and enough iron to make a three-inch nail. The rest is just dust and water.
The story is told of a little boy who was taught in Sunday school, “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). One day, when he was looking under the bed, his mother asked him, “What are you looking at?” He replied, “My Sunday school teacher said that we come from dust and go back to dust. There’s somebody under my bed, and I can’t tell whether they’re coming or going!”
Seriously, since your body is temporal and your soul is eternal, you must take the long view and practice soul care. Nurture your soul daily with God’s Word. Fortify and enrich it by spending time each day with God in prayer. Discover the talents and treasures He has placed within you and invest them into the kingdom of God and others. Next time someone says to you, “Take care of yourself,” think not only about your body but about your soul.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I know my body is failing away – but my soul remains. Help me take care of my soul by keeping it connected to You. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
ITTT
Tim: I highly respect your work. It insightful, encouraging and real. I do have a problem with your holding concerning our bodies. We will be changed as he is changed. We will be like him and see him. He is glorified forever, yet still a resurrected body. A man forever in the glory. His resurrected human body Our bodies will be changed, not disposed of. There is yet the salvation of our bodies. A very real hope. To deny that hope is to reject a foundational truth, and that restrains our maturity here. Don’t steal that hope from your body now. Trusting in the resurrection of our bodies is part of our peace, and denies our loss. We will be like him, changed with resurrected, glorified bodies. His changed body that lives forever in glory also validates our human existence as real forever, not a dream or lost dimension. Our physical identities are are not entirely lost. He gives us a resurection hope that is part of our salvation, which bears a greater peace in the face of the unknown future. To teach our bodies are not changed, but are replaced, robs the bodies of our listeners a special hope and peace.
Keep on. I love your notes!
Dennis Ehrman