Central to our Christian understanding of the mystery of life is that there seem to be three intrinsic parts of human nature. The soul, the spirit and the body.
1 Thessalonians 5 v 12-28 specifically highlights this.
“Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 24 God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.”
Simplistically it would seem our spirits are the part of us that craves connection with our incredible Creator, our soul essentially the part of us that makes us who we are, our mind/intellect, personalities and character. The writers of the bible also sometimes seem referred collectively to the two of these as our heart. And our body is of course the physical us.
If we want to go the distance we need to think about all three areas of our lives and cultivate healthy rhythms for them all. Importantly we must think of them as connected as disconnecting them can lead to unhealthy patterns and habits.
Lets take a couple of case studies from the bible.
Firstly lets take a look at Elijah (1 Kings 18 and 19)
To summarise;
* At Elijah’s previous encounter with the King he promised there would be no rain until he says there will.
* After a long drought God spoke to Elijah and told him to go back and see the King
* During the drought the King searched the world for Elijah
* When Elijah meets the King in chapter 18 he challenges him to a prophet showdown
* The King gathers Israel and the Prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel
* Elijah goes up and meets them
* He challenges the prophets of Baal to call on their god to make fire come down from Heaven and consume their sacrifice
* After all their efforts nothing happens Elijah finally gets his sacrifice ready
* To make it extra hard he pours loads of water all over it.
* Elijah calls on God and fire reigns down from Heaven and burns up all the sacrifice.
* Elijah kills all the prophets of Baal as false prophets
* Then Elijah prophesies rain is coming.
* He waits on top of Carmel until he sees a cloud approaching
* Then he runs really fast and overtakes the King who has already set off some time before.
* As he is relaxing somewhere for the evening the queen sends word to him that she intends to kill him for killing all her prophets.
* Elijah gets scared and makes a run for it.
It is all pretty impressive until it the end of the story?
Elijah has just called upon the Creator of the Universe and in an instant fire has reigned down from heaven and burnt up all of the sacrifice proving that He is the One true God of everything. It is an incredibly poignant victory but when the queen gets involved, Elijah runs terrified into the wilderness. Why? By all accounts the queen was a formidable dark sorceress but Elijah had just proved his God was infinitely more powerful that any dark power so why did he run scared?
In truth it is hard to know, the bible isn’t clear and doesn’t go into much detail. But perhaps what happens as he is on the run gives us an idea of what may have been going on. Sitting down under a tree presumably at the point of physical exhaustion Elijah asks God to take his life and promptly falls asleep. While he is sleeping an angel shows up and tells him to eat, and miraculously God provides bread and a jar of water by his side. He falls asleep again and once more an angel appears a little while later and God again provides food and Elijah is strengthened for the journey ahead. Then we get another hint, later we find Elijah complaining to God that Israel have broken their covenant and they are trying to kill him. It is a very telling complaint, “I am the only one left” perhaps his problem wasn’t only physical but an overwhelming sense of loneliness was weighing heavy on his soul?
In comparison lets take a look at the apostle Paul in similarly tight situation in Acts 16 and 17.
To summarise;
* Paul and Silas are traveling preaching and teaching on a ministry trip through a number of places, where they pick up Timothy.
* Eventually they make their way to Northern Greece.
* They meet a girl who seems to be a fortune teller and involved in demonic activity.
* Paul commands the demonic to leave in the name of Jesus Christ and the girl is set free.
* The girl was a slave and her master earned a lot of money from her telling peoples fortunes, so he is not happy.
* So he dragged Paul and his crew before the city officials and claimed they were disturbing the peace of the city.
* A mob quickly formed against Paul
* So the city official ordered that they should be stripped and beaten with rods and thrown in prison. Where the jailer put them in the inner dungeon.
* Around midnight Paul and his crew were worshiping and praying and suddenly there was an earthquake that shook all the doors open and their chains off.
* The jailer fearing everyone had escaped was ready to kill himself but Paul shouts to let him know they are all still there and the jailer decides to follow Christ and washes their wounds and cares for them.
Similar in some ways but so different in other.
A big miracle upsets a bunch of people but instead of running in fear Paul and his crew allow themselves to be dragged before the city officials and eventually thrown into a dungeon. Even when they have the opportunity to make a run for it after the earthquake they stick around and the jailer finds life instead of death, physically and spiritually.
I think Paul gives us a glimpse of something profoundly important in his letter to the Philippians.
Philippians 4 10-14;
“How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.”
There are so many fascinating things that go far beyond a superficial commentary about materialism that this passage is so often used for. Paul is speaking of his thankfulness of the Philippians’ camaraderie, for their physical provision when they could and their prayers and thoughts when they couldn’t. He is speaking of an attitude of choosing to trust God’s goodness in the good times and the bad. He indirectly references the connections between the soul, body and spirit but chooses to allow the spirit to control the condition of the other two.
It is profoundly inspiring.
We all face challenges and difficulties and often sustainability is not found in the absence of problems but in the face of adversity.