Which part of your life is more healthy right now, your soul or your body? These days, we are reminded to watch over our physical health diligently. Our eating and exercise clearly impact our bodies, positively or negatively. The truth in the Bible confronts our compartmentalization of life. You are not just a soul or a body or a spirit, but one whole person. All of life is interconnected. This is not to say that a healthy body guarantees a healthy soul. But our spiritual life will necessarily affect our whole lives. We cannot be healthy without a healthy soul.
John wrote to Gaius, a leader in the first century church. Before he says a word he tells him he loves him twice. He loves him in the truth and he loves him as a friend. He knows that Gaius is doing well spiritually and he prays that he will also do well physically, emotionally and relationally. He wants his friend’s soul to do well.
How do we get well in our souls? Like our bodies, our intake and activities will affect us. With what food are we feeding our souls? Think of the things we are reading and watching. Solomon said, “Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” This is why reading the scriptures until they get through to us is such an important exercise. Prayer feeds our souls as we wait before the Lord expectantly in this Advent season. Our first Advent devotional (you can pick up a copy at Tallowood Baptist Church) points to two Psalms which have blessed my life since my youth: Psalm 42 and Psalm 63. Both speak of profound thirst and longing for God. David wants to go back to worship to be with the people of God (Psalm 42:1-4). David’s solitary hope for his soul rests in God alone. So he engages in dialogue with his soul: “Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
In the darkest hour of his life, having lost his children at sea, Horatio Spafford wrote, “Whatever my lot, you have taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’” This is my prayer for you today, no matter what you are facing. May it be well with your soul.
