06/27/2020
As creatures of a combined spirit, and body, we need to tend to the needs of both, and Jesus wasn’t negligent of that fact. When He taught He fed the spiritual side of those who had gathered about Him, and when they were physically Exhausted, and hungry, he fed their bodies. A good example was on the day He performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes. He kept a balance in His teaching, and in His own life as well... praying, eating, drinking, washing, and bathing; each in its own perfect measure.
“Give us this day our daily bread,”
Matthew 6:11 ESV
We say these words when we recite the Lord’s Prayer, and they are important. If they weren’t necessary then Jesus would not have taught His disciples to pray them. Our bodies are more than just clay jars that we break on the ground when we are through with them, they are the Temple of the Holy Spirit...
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,”
1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV
And our bodies are also God’s residence as He abides in Jesus, and Jesus in us...
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
John 14:10 ESV
In this way our bodies become more than just a vehicle which carries our soul, but they become part and parcel with it... our spiritual selves become one with the body that it abides in, and in this way can glow Holy. Holy is a characteristic of both the spiritual, and the physical alike, and though it occurs within us as beings, it can exist in places as well... Holy Ground.
“When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Acts 7:31-33 ESV
I watched a documentary filmed by an unbeliever as he tried to understand what happened to Christian believers when they went on spiritual pilgrimages. During this film he sought to concentrate on their journey as simply being a hike, or a vacation, in an attempt to trivialize the spiritual aspects, but time and time again he was confronted by a spiritual awakening in himself. This arousal was especially strong when he entered great cathedrals, or visited Holy sites In the Holy Land... he was brought to tears on certain occasions when the Spirit was strong in a particular place. He was confronted with a convergence between the physical location, and an infusion of the spirit in them. I like to refer to these places as being places where the veil is thin between heaven and earth. When in balance, our Spirit and physical selves, our bodies can take on this characteristic... Moses glowed when he came down from the mountain, and Jesus did as well as He prepared to ascend to join the Father.
“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”
Matthew 17:2-3 ESV
We tend to emphasize our spiritual selves over our bodies, and to even trivialize the importance of our bodies as we do so. We teach ourselves to feel this way as we learn lessons regarding the spiritual aspects of faith, and confront those things we can’t see, or struggle to understand. This isn’t new, listen to this Anglican Bishop from the 1600s...
“We are invited to pray for the supply of our temporal necessities, but these are trivial in regard to the necessities of our souls. We ought to be much more earnest and importunate with God for our spiritual mercies.” - Ezekiel Hopkins, 1681 Bishop of Derry
I guess we tend to do this because God is Spirit, but this is neglecting the fact that He saw fit to create us from the dust of the earth to be a combination of creation, and his own breath... a cup of earth blended perfectly with a cup of the divine. So in this way the line between creation and creator became more than blurred, in Adam and Eve it was not meant to exist at all, but then came the fall, and that brought forth the grace of God that flows through Jesus Christ, our redeemer. By this the line between creation and creator was erased once more, and holiness now abounds if we accept it.
“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.”
Isaiah 26:19 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the spirit, life, and the soul you have placed within us, but thank you also for the bodies in which these dwell with you, your Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. You are the source of all life, the creator of the universe and everything that is in it. We thank you Lord for seeing fit to reconcile us, your creation, with yourself, and to make us Holy Ground as we worship you body, and soul. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who breathed life into us, then conceived your Son Jesus, and came to abide in Him, as you sent Him to abide in us. We praise your name for all we are, and for imparting, by your grace, a measure of your holiness, to us... body, mind, and soul. Great are you, and merciful your plan to redeem us from the death and sin that we came to embrace in Eden. We long for the return of Jesus, for in that day you will raise our bodies once again from the ground, and bring new life to them as you transfigure us in preparation for eternity... rejoining our body and soul; the created with the uncreated, to abide with you forevermore.
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV
Rich Forbes