Are you a body with a soul or a soul with a body?

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess 5:23

We humans are obsessed with our bodies, aren't we?  Just spend some time watching TV commercials or reading Magazine or Internet Ads.   Most of them are about our bodies.

Lose weight, look great!
Wear this makeup and you'll wow him
Get the latest fashions!
You'll feel great in this new Lexis!
Get a massage
Take a Yoga class
Get the latest hair cut and color
This lotion will make your skin soft as silk!
We have pills for everything now: sex, depression, ocd, social anxiety, fear, insomnia, etc..
And don't get me started on the food commercials. How we do love to eat!

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with any of these things. But it seems to me we spend a great deal of time on our body, much less time on our souls, and relatively no time on our spirits. But what is our soul and how is it different from our spirit? I found this great diagram online to help illustrate. 

 

 The soul is what makes you uniquely you. It is your personality, your mind and will and your heart which encompasses your hopes, dreams, talents, likes, dislikes... etc
Want proof the soul exists? My husband and his prior wife had identical triplets. I mean they were identical. If there was no soul or spirit, these three girls would have grown up to like and dislike the same exact things.  They would have just been replicas of each other. But that was not the case. Each one of them is so unique, it's incredible!  They like different things, music, movies, books. They have different talents. They took completely different paths in life.

Our souls and spirits are eternal. Our bodies are just like clothing we put on. The only problem is we can't take it off until we die! So, it gets dirty and wrinkly and worn and tattered. We can try to dress it up, keep it clean, put lotion on, maybe even get a nip and tuck here and there, but it will eventually completely decay.

I once heard a preacher who said that our spirit-man is not some nebulous cloud, but it is actually in the same form as our body. It fills our body space completely. In other words, when you die and you step out of your body, you look the same, except your spirit hasn't aged or grown worn or tired. This is why people will recognize you in Heaven.  I really liked this cause it made me think of my body as just what it is.. a temporary covering, an article of worn clothing. 

Why do we spend so much time on it then??

As you can see in the diagram, it is our spirit that is most important. That is where God lives when we commit ourselves to Him. That is where we hear Him and commune with Him.  And then from our spirits, God changes our souls, makes us better people, thinking better thoughts, having better motives, being more loving, more caring, less selfish, and more able to reveal God's love to others.
This should be our focus.

God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7


 I love the way C.S Lewis puts it:  “You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” 



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