By Not Known
God made us as people with multiple aspects. These different aspects are on view when we are told to love God with all our heart, soul and strength (Dt. 6:4; latter exanded to include ‘mind’ Mt 22:37)
Heart, soul, mind and body all matter to God because he made them. Further, they are all linked rather than being separated. For example, a sikness within can have physical effects. In fact, a disorder in any aspect of us tends to affect the whole person.
We all have needs in all our aspects. Sadly we often overlook care of mind, heart and soul – the inner aspects of people. We talk readily of our physical needs such as illness and tiredness. But we are reticent when it comes to issues of emotional and mental health, let alone spiritual disorders.
Likewise in our care giving. It’s easy to give meal money to a hungry person or a basket of fruit to a hospital patient. But we struggle to give effective help to the many people with emotional and mental illness. And we often don’t even stray into spiritual care.
But soul-care matters. As these times remind us, financial turmoil can strip our wealth. Tyrants can imprison or kill our body. But our spiritual aspect or ‘soul’ endures and we are to stand in awe of God who is its master (Mt 10: 28).
Thus, our care for the soul of one anotehr has eternal significance, for the soul remains when all else vanishes at the last trumpet.
our morning sermon passage (Phil 1:1- 11) show su soul-care in action. Paul extends God’s grace and peace to his readers. He prays for their love to abound in knowledge and depth of insignt so that they are held righteous for the day of Christ. This is real soul-care: ministering on the eternal horizon of human identity.
There is an individual and church challenge here. Do we enquire into one another’s spiritual health as much as the physical? Do we act to promote one another’s spiritual health? Do we pay as much to our own spiritual health as to our physical and financial well-being?
Our souls last forever. Let’s care for them