One of the greatest deceptions the devil uses to keep man from having a strong relationship with God is that the physical things of life are more important than the spiritual.  If man focuses most of his attention on his physical life, his soul will be neglected.

When God fed the Israelites manna in the wilderness, He coupled that blessing with specific rules that they had to follow (Exodus 16:15-19).  Why?  We learn why in Deuteronomy 8.

Deuteronomy 8:3 (ESV)
³  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

To live, Israel would have to follow the commands of the Lord.  Bread may sustain physical life, but obedience to God sustains the soul, and the well-being of the soul is far more important than the body.  Jesus taught this lesson to the devil when He was being tempted.

Matthew 4:3-4 (ESV)
³  And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴  But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

A strong body profits very little when the soul is in ruins.  Jesus once asked the question, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”  The answer is nothing, for the soul is far more valuable than all the world has to offer.

The devil does not want man to understand this.  Instead, he wants man to spend his whole life pursuing the things of this world, and to lose his soul as a result.  Let us not allow the devil to deceive us.  Spiritual things are always more important than physical things.  While we live in a physical world in physical bodies, they are both just temporal.  The world is going to someday pass away, and our bodies are going to be changed from physical to spiritual, but our souls will live on forever somewhere—either heaven or hell (John 5:28-29).

Always remember the real you.  It is not the physical body in which you live; it is your inner man.  It was Paul’s understanding of this that allowed him to endure the persecution that he experienced at the hands of those who were enemies of the cross.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)
¹⁶  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Paul had the right focus in life.  He knew what was transient and what was eternal and put far more weight upon the eternal.  The devil could not succeed in tempting him with material riches, physical pleasure, or the power and prestige of this world because Paul knew that all those things would soon pass away.  He was interested in the salvation of his soul, and he knew that the bread of this world could not give him that; only obedience to God could.  Remember, you can go to heaven with an empty stomach, but if you starve your soul, hell will be your destiny.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.