03/18/2025
How do we reconcile our physical and spiritual selves so that they both mirror Jesus Christ? Sometimes we are so wrapped up in conforming our physical selves that we forget the spiritual side of who we are... or vice versa. Let’s look at this today and see if we can reach an understanding regarding who we really are, and why knowing this is important.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
2 Corinthians 7:1 KJV
One Wednesday evening I was in a bible study and my pastor began teaching by asking us an unusual question... "What is real?" ... then after some discussion we were able to conclude that there are three ways most people answer this question:
1. Our Spiritual Self alone is real
2. Our Physical Self alone is real
Or
3. Both our Physical and Spiritual Selves together are real.
It is amazing but every culture and religion has a certain way of deriving their answer to this question and thus in seeing the world and seeking God. For Christians and Jews it is always option number three. Our bibles begin with our Spiritual God creating the physical everything... but then it goes a step further when He breathes life into man; thus completing his physical creation and imparting in us His spiritual presence. In this way God gave us a spiritual self to go along with our physical bodies, and from that moment forth, we have had to reconcile the two within ourselves, one to the other. Pastor Oswald Chambers looks at it in this way…
"By sanctification the Son of God is formed in me, then I have to transform my natural life into a spiritual life by obedience to Him. God educates us down to the scruple." - Oswald Chambers
We haven't been too good at this, and a struggle ensued between our spirits and our bodies that first became evident in the Garden of Eden with the fall of man at the base of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our physical human side ate of the fruit and the battle within ourselves went from a struggle to a full-fledged war. Our spirit and our physical selves have been at loggerheads ever since… that is until God sent His Son Jesus to redeem us… to save us.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16-17 ESV
We find in scripture that God wasn't caught unaware in Eden... He had a plan from the first moment of creation to not only reunite man with Himself, but to reconcile man's physical and spiritual selves with one another. In the perfect fullness of time He sent His Son Jesus Christ to atone for man's sins and to teach him how to bring peace to both his physical and spiritual selves.
“even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”
Ephesians 1:4-5 ESV
Jesus was born, suffered, died, and was resurrected to reconcile man to God, and his own body and mind to his spiritual self as well.
“And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Hebrews 10:10 ESV
But Jesus also taught a series of lessons that gave us an understanding of how we are to love God, to live at peace with one another, and to be at spiritual peace within our physical selves.
“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7 ESV
So, every moment of every day we are meant to focus our attention on Jesus the Christ, to be in unceasing prayer, and to seek to be like Him. This is the signing of the final peace accord within us… spirit and body thus coming together and bringing us to an eternal peace in God. Oswald Chambers described this very eloquently by saying...
"I have to cleanse myself from all filthiest of the flesh and spirit until both are in accord with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I insubordinate in intellect?... I have the responsibility of keeping my spirit in agreement with His Spirit" - Oswald Chambers
In prayer we maintain our relationship with the Lord, and through Jesus Christ that relationship has been made whole once more. Through Him, we are taught about how to walk with God as He brings us together physically and spiritually so that our physical actions can be reconciled equally with our spirituality.
When we reach this perfect peace within ourselves, and those around us, we become righteous, holy, and our two selves work together in unison to serve God, and we are able to reach eternity with Him. How are we doing as we walk this road towards peace? Have each of us signed the peace accord at last?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your breath that made me not only the complete physical creature you created but instilled in me a spiritual self... creating a spirit and soul, that joins me in close relationship to you. I thank you Lord for your Son Jesus who served as your spotless lamb, and the pure white dove of peace that serves as the unblemished sacrifice for my sins and the sole way that returns me to you free of sin again.
I thank you Holy Father for the love in my life... yours for me, mine for you, and my ability to love myself and others as you would have me do. I thank you for the teaching of Jesus as He instructs me in how to live my life for you, and I thank you for the Holy Spirit which gives me understanding and helps me in my prayers. Father, in all things I praise you; with my body and spirit I praise you. In both these, body and spirit, I seek your presence, and to serve you always. Your mercy, goodness, and grace abound, and your love is more than sufficient for me. You complete and perfect me Abba so that I can love you as I should… body, mind, heart, and soul… with every thought and all my strength, with every sinew and fiber that is in me, and with every whisp of mist and vapor that wafts through me, and abides within me… my spirit, and yours abiding as one. This is the day that you have made, and I am your righteous child that you have placed within it. Bless me now and forevermore as we walk together in love and warm embrace. Hear my voice, my prayers, and know my heart. With all I am I give you the honor and glory for who you have made me to be and to become, and for this glorious garden you have set me in. May all saints and every soul sing Hallelujah with me and claim the Amen in you.
Amen, Amen, Amen forevermore.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
Genesis 2:15 ESV
“2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”
Revelation 21:2-6 ESV
Rich Forbes