Section 3: Humanity
Week 2: God Created Us Body and Soul
Day 3: Our Bodies and Souls Are Interconnected
2 Cor. 7:1
When we jettison the notion that the immaterial or spiritual part of us is somehow superior, we’re in a position to accept the fact that our bodies and souls/spirits are intertwined. Together they make up who we are. That’s an important discovery to make.
A few winters back, I went out to snow-blow the driveway for the first time. The snow blower wouldn’t start. Turns out I had forgotten to run the gas out of the engine the winter before, and that old gas clogged the carburetor. It’s amazing how a problem with just one part of the snow blower can keep the whole thing from working. That’s what happens, though, when things are interconnected. Problems with one part often keep the other parts from working properly.
The same is true of us as human beings. Because we are a composite of body and spirit, a problem in one area tends to affect the other. What happens to us physically, for example, often also has an effect on us spiritually.
When I was in seminary, one of my professors mentioned a student who once came to him for some advice. The student had been depressed, short with friends, and mad at God. As they talked, the student explained he hadn’t been sleeping much because he was preparing for exams. My professor realized there was a decent chance the student’s lack of sleep was the source of the other problems. So he told the student to get some sleep. And you know what? It worked!
The point isn’t that all our spiritual problems are somehow connected to the body. They aren’t. The point is we need to take care of both parts of ourselves. If we don’t take care of our spiritual side, there will be consequences. And those consequences may have an effect on us physically. Similarly, if we don’t take care of our bodies, there will be consequences. And those consequences may have an effect on us spiritually. That’s because the physical and spiritual part of ourselves are intertwined. That’s just how we were made.
Reflection Questions:
Have you ever experienced a problem in your body or spirit spilling over into the other? In that instance, was it easy to identify where the underlying problem originated? What did it take to resolve the problem?
Challenge:
Identify one change you can make to take better care of your spirit. Identify one change you can make to take better care of your body.
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