I was thinking how we operate so much on the physical realm – we walk, we talk, we breathe, we laugh, we run. And we pretty much know what to do to keep our bodies running, and our little corner of the world livable. It’s easy to imagine that if we have taken care of the physical things – our bodies, our houses, our jobs & the material goods that we acquire to make our lives possible, then all is right with our world. And there, where we just might think we have it figured out and taken care of all of the things — if we stopped to really think about it, we would find that we are wrong. Wouldn’t we? Wouldn’t we be forgetting about the other half of our being?

“What a wonderful thing the soul is, children! You cannot see it: you cannot hear it: you cannot touch it. Yet you know it is there. You do not want any proof that you have a soul. You are as sure of that as that you have a body. It tells you itself.

Now I think I am wrong, after all, in saying that you have a soul. Ought I not to say, you are a soul? Is not the soul really yourself? In truth, my children, it is the soul that has a body, not the body that has a soul; for the soul is greater surely than the body, and will last when the body is laid aside in death.”

–William Walsham How,

“But there is a spirit in man,
And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.” Job 32:8

There is a spirit in man. And the strange thing is that we don’t really think about it most of the time. But it is interesting to notice that we do forget that sometimes, and we behave as if the physical world — our bodies, and the things we can see and touch and feel, are the only things that matter. Scripture is full of reminders that point us to a reality that is larger than what the naked eye can see, that is supernatural, and that includes some “hidden life of the spirit.” First of all, we are told that we have a real Father, God, who is a “Spirit.”

²⁴ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

Secondly, we are told that a savior came into our world, to save us from our sins (which are not physical sins, nor visible to the naked eye, but spiritual).

“Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is ^[g]conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name ^[h]Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20, 21)

Then this savior – Jesus, says that we must be “born again,” “of the Spirit,” and that unless we have this new “birth of the spirit,” this waking up into this life of the spirit, we won’t be able to understand or see this spiritual world.

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born^[a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

This new birth, this “waking up into the life of the spirit,” is spoken of as a different thing than the natural life. Jesus comes into this world to tell us about spiritual things, and to make us more aware of our spiritual life.

¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man^[b]who is in heaven. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should^[c]not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:12-17)

When we forget about our souls, we experience a hunger – an emptiness. A feeling of loss that we can’t explain, a sadness of soul. We may have everything we need, and even everything we want, but if we forget about the needs of our soul, we will soon know it. We will find that we don’t have answers for the troubles of life, and we will feel like something is still not quite right – our cup will not feel full, and our heart will not be at rest. The more we learn about the needs of our soul, the sooner we will recognize it, and know what to do about it.

³ So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴  (Deuteronomy 8:3)

—Father, let us be born again also, into your heavenly life of the spirit. We know – our spirit within us feels it – that we need more than just what feeds the body. More than the good of this physical world we inhabit. We need this also; you have created us in a physical world and it is good. But let us not forget the other half, for we are not complete without our spirits. Let us grow larger in our hearts and in our souls; help our eyes to see this other world, to see with the inner eye of your spirit. Help us to remember that man cannot live by bread alone, and that our souls will always be hungry without you. We need you – the living source of our life, and our spirit. Help us to come to you for more life.

~Beth 🌸

And he said, “Come, and drink living waters.” So my soul will sit with Bear and drink of the still waters. They restore my soul. 🐾

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